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Lay,  Henry  C.  1823-1885. 

The  Church  in  the  nation 


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Iltt  ^islwir  iadaorfe  JwtuwiS,  J88S. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  NATION 

PURE  AND  APOSTOLICAL 
GOD'S   AUTHORIZED   REPRESENTATIVE 


HENRY   c'^LAY,    D.D.,    LLD. 

BISHOP   OF    EASTON. 


NEW  YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON    &    COMPANY 

31    WEST   TWENTY-THIRD   STREET 

1885 


COPYKIGHT, 

1885, 

BY  E.  P.  DDTTON  &  CO. 


PRESS  OP  J.   J.   LITTLE  «s  CO., 
NOS.    lO  TO    20  ASTOR    FLACE,   NEW    YORK, 


SOCI^    GERMANS    PER    ANNOS    XXXVIII. 

IN    REBUS    ADJDVANTI, 

Operisque  Unjusoe  in   Labors  Limae  Se  Diligenter  Exercenti, 

LIBRUM    DEDICAVIT 

CONJUX   AMANS. 


The  Fourth  Lecture  contained  in  this  volume  was  the 
last  public  utterance  of  the  Bishop  of  Easton.  During 
the  night  after  its  delivery  he  was  prostrated  by  a  severe 
attack  of  illness.  He  never  recovered  his  health,  and, 
after  just  six  months  of  great  weakness  and  suffering,  pa- 
tiently and  courageously  endured,  he  entered  into  rest. 

With  physical  strength  unequal  to  the  task,  and  with 
distrust  in  his  own  learning  and  powers  of  expression, 
he  yet  felt  constrained  to  accept  an  invitation,  more  than 
once  offered,  to  address  men,  for  whom  especially  he 
felt  he  had  a  message,  on  a  subject  very  near  his  heart. 

This  book  contains  the  guiding  principles  of  his  life. 
Whatever  of  success  in  the  ministry  was  his,  he  believed 
was  all  owing  to  his  loyalty  to  that  true  branch  of  the 
Church  Catholic,  to  which  in  ordination  he  had  pledged 
obedience.  His  feelings  toward  this  National  Church 
were  those  not  only  of  love  and  veneration,  but  also  of 
admiration  and  utmost  confidence.  In  those  dark  hours 
of  watching  on  the  very  brink  of  the  grave,  his  thoughts 
were  always  turned  to  the  glorious  opportunities  vouch- 
safed to  the  Grand  Old  Mother  Church,  if  her  sons 
would  but  see  and  do  their  duty.  In  her  service  he 
found  his  greatest  joy ;  and  Life,  without  work  for  her, 
possessed  no  charms  for  him. 

That  this  book  might  be  read  by  many  was  his  earn- 
est hope ;  that  it  might  do  somewhat  toward  the  fur- 
therance of  Christ's  Kingdom  was  his  devout  and  fer- 
vent prayer. 

G.  W.  L. 

Easton. 
The  Feast  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels, 
Anno  Domini  1885. 


777^  BISHOP  PADDOCK  LECTURES. 


In  the  summer  of  the  year  1880,  George  A.  Jarvis, 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  moved  by  his  sense  of  the  great 
good  which  might  thereby  accrue  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  to  the  Church,  of  which  he  was  an  ever 
grateful  member,  gave  to  the  General  Theological  Sem- 
inary of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  certain  securi- 
ties exceeding  in  value  eleven  thousand  dollars  for  the 
foundation  and  maintenance  of  a  Lectureship  in  said 
Seminar)^  Out  of  love  to  a  former  Pastor  and  endur- 
ring  friend,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Henry  Paddock, 
D.  D.,  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  he  named  his  Foun- 
dation "The  Bishop  Paddock  Lectureship," 

The  deed  of  trust  declares  that  : 

"  The  subjects  of  the  Lectures  shall  be  such  as  appertain  to 
the  defence  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Chkist,  as  revealed  in  the 
Holy  Bible  2^n<l  illustrated  in  the  Book  of  Cormnon  Frayer  against 
the  varying  errors  of  the  day,  whether  materialistic,  rationalis- 
tic, or  professedly  religious,  and  also  to  its  defence  and  confirm- 
ation in  respect  of  such  central  truths  as  the  Trinity,  the  At- 
onemetit,  Justification,  and  the  Inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and  of  such  central  facts  as  the  Churches  Divine  Order  and  Sac- 
rameftts,  her  historical  Reformation  and  her  rights  and  powers  as 
a  pure  and  National  Church.  And  other  subjects  may  be  chosen 
if  unanimously  approved  by  the  Board  of  Appointment  as  being 
both  timely  and  also  within  the  true  intent  of  this  Lectureship." 


The  Bishop  Paddock  Lectures. 


Under  the  appointment  of  the  Board  created  by  the 
Trust,  viz.,  the  Dean  of  the  General  Theological  Semi- 
nary and  the  Bishops  respectively  of  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  Long  Island,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Henry 
C.  Lay,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  Bishop  of  Easton,  delivered 
the  Lectures  for  the  year  1885,  contained  in  this 
volume. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church. 


PACK 


1.  The  subject  of  the  Lectures  defined 17 

2.  A  Church  with  prescriptive  authority  offensive  to  the 
uhra-Protestant  and  the  pseudo-CathoUc  mind 18 

3.  Pertinency  of  the  general  subject  to  theological  students.     21 

4.  The  Divine  ideal  of  the  Church  deserves  first  to  be  con- 
sidered. The  search  for  the  Ideal  not  unpractical  or 
illusive 23 

5.  The  Church  Ideal  as  recognized  in  the  Popular  Relig- 
ion of  our  age  and  country.  It  lacks  the  broad  foun- 
dations of  the  doctrines  of  the  Incarnation  and  the 
mission  of  the  Comforter  in  their  just  proportions. 
This   defect    influences   the   conception   of  organism, 

bodily  worship  and  sacraments 25 

These  errors  do  not  imply  wilful  deviations  from  the 


truth. 


29 


A  general  survey  of  historical  Christianity  exhibits  no 
trace  of  Denominationalism,  but  a  visible  Church,  and 

a  Kingdom  of  Covenant 30 

Christ,  as   Pilate  certified,  is  a  King,  with    territory, 
subjects,  and  citizens  born  thereinto  :  King  by  inherit- 
ance, by  conquest,  by  voluntary  concession  of  subjects.     32 
The  Church  of  the  Acts  an  kKuXiidia  of  such  as  bear 

a  signature.    36 

Christ,  a  Living  King,  ruling  the  Church  by  interme- 
diary agencies 38 

The  Church  a  Covenant  Kingdom — Two  contracting 
parties:  stipulations  on  both  sides.  Signatures,  Seals 
and  Forfeitures  all  prescribed 41 

ix 


Contents. 


12.  The  Covenant,  brief  at  first,  capable  of  indefinite  ex- 
pansion        43 

13.  The  Church  a  "  true  native  extract"  of  Christ's  own 
body,  and  involving  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation. 
The  line  between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  in 
sacraments  no  more  to  be  drawn,  than  an  absolute 
severance  can  be  made  between  the  two  natures  in  the 
One  Person  of  our  Lord 44 

LECTURE  II. 

The  Particular  or  National  Church. 

1.  The  Truth  revealed,  in  need  of  an  mstrument  for  its  con- 
servation and  perpetuation 51 

2.  The  organization  in  the  great  XL.  days.  The  Church 
of  the  Acts  one  in  Doctrine,  Fellowship,  Sacrament, 
and  Worship    53 

3.  Objections  raised.     Was  there  no  division  in  the  Apos- 

tolic Church  ? 54 

4.  The  Church  as  admini'jtered  by  St.  Paul,  Timothy  and 
Titus.  The  Seven  Churches  of  Asia  prove  Diocesan 
Episcopacy  as  early  as  the  year  96  A.  D 56 

5.  Mention  made  of  the  Congregational  theory,  and  also 
of  the  Papal.  Bishop  Andre wes  on  "  Holy  Roman 
Catholic." 58 

6.  The  Church  of  the  Nicene  period,  one,  yet  diverse.  In- 
timation of  such  distribution  of  work  in  the  Feeding  of 

the  5000 63 

7.  Canons  of  Nicsea  and  ('onstantinople  recognizing 
adaptation  of  Church  economies  to  civil  facts.  Church 
and  State  necessarily  considerate  of  each  other 64 

8.  Constitution  of  Church  into  Parishes,  Dioceses,  Pro- 
vinces      68 

9.  Our  Lord's  use  of  eOvoi  suggestive. — Use  of  these  re- 
flections       71 

10.  National  Church  autonomous.  Its  rights  not  for- 
feited by  temporary  submission  to  unlawful  authority.      73 

11.  Effort  of  the  Gallican  Church  to  assert  her  autonomy 
Bull,  Unam  Sanctam,  accepted  for  four  centuries.  — 
Declaratio  of  1682  and  its  propositions.  Bossuet's 
Defensio.     Chmxh  assaulted  by  National  Convention, 


Contents. 


PAGE 

1789.  Resistance  of  clergy.  Non-juring  Bishops 
refugees  in  England  and  their  entertainment.  The 
Empire.  Napoleon  proposes  to  re-construct  the 
Church.     The  Pope  deprives  the  non-jurors  of  their  sees.     75 

12.  Vatican  Council.  As  Pius  VII.  deprived  Bishops,  Pius 
IX.  suppresses  or  absorbs  the  episcopate  itself.  As- 
saults of  the  State  at  this  present  time  on  the  Church's 
independence 81 

13  Objection  answered  that  National  Churches  are  a  failure. 
Illustration  of  Jewish  Church.  National  Churches  to- 
day far  from  being  defunct 83 

LECTURE  III. 
A  Church  in  The  United  States,  National  and  Pure. 

1.  There  is  in  the  United  States  a  Church  of  prescriptive 
right.    Two  questions  involved.    Legitimacy  and  Purity     89 

2.  Legitimacy:  the  simplicity  of  the  argument  in  the  way 
of  its  acceptance.  Historically.  The  Church  grew 
out  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  continuity  affirmed 
by  the  State  of  Maryland,  and  by  General  Convention 

of  1814  91 

3.  Purity,  not  less  than  Catholicity,  a  note  of  the  Church..  97 
Purity  is  not  freedom  from  infirmity,  but  substantial 
integrity.  The  Church  is  pure  in  that  she  has  kept 
the  Faith  :  has  observed  the  distinction  between  Faith 
and  Doctrine.  Issue  here  with  Rome.  Purity  of  the 
Church  in  teaching  doctrine  intelligibly,  symmetrically 
and  in  its  spintualness 98 

4.  Objections  to  claim  of  Legitimacy,  such  as  the  Pope 
the  Patriarch  of  the  West.  Canonical  irregularities  in 
Anglican  Orders.    American  Church  self-made 108 

5.  The  value  of  all  such  particular  objections  considered,   no 

6.  Moral  Certainty,  and  its  regard  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  case.  Burnett's  common-sense  view.  Objection  of 
irregularities  fatal  to  Papal  Succession no 

7.  Charitable  construction  a  rule  of  law.  Anglican  and 
American  Orders  meet  all  reasonable  requirements.. ..   116 

8.  Purity  objected  to  by  reason  of  bracket  in  the  Creed. 
Acknowledged  to  be  a  mistake,  but  Church  not  ob- 
noxious to  charge  of  Apollinarianism 118 


xii  Contents. 


.  PAGE 

9.  Objection  by  reason  of  name,  Protestant  Episcopal. 
Origin  of  the  name.  Bishop  Meade's  view  of  the 
subject 119 

LECTURE  IV. 

The  Church s  Duty  to  Her  own  Children  and  Her  own 
People. 

1.  Principle  of  authority  now  be  to  applied  to  specific 
duties 129 

2.  The  Church  owes  a  duty  to  the  Nation.  She  is  author- 
ized and  furnished  to  be  its  religious  guardian 130 

3.  The  sphere  of  her  activities  co  extensive  with  the 
nation.  Illustration  drawn  from  Parish  arrangements 
in  Maryland.  Hard  thinking  as  well  as  hard  work  a 
condition  of  success.     In  what  sense  the  Reformation 

is  not  a  finality 136 

4.  The  Church  should  demand  that  the  State  respect  her 
rights  and  liberties.  Illustration  in  the  matter  of  Di- 
vorce.    The  Church's  regulations  00  that  subject. .    ..    141 

5.  The  Church's  duty  to  her  own  children.  To  respect 
their  manhood.  Admission  to  the  Holy  Communion, 
without  unnecessary  obstruction,  the  right  of  laymen. 
John  luglesant  quoted 144 

6.  Duty  to  her  children  requires  that  the  Church  enforce 
discipline  Reasons  why  the  subject  is  imperfectly 
apprehended.  Spiritual  Discipline  proceeds  from  the 
Bishop.  Pastoral  influence  preferable  to  official  disci- 
pline. Ordinary  ;  its  meaning  in  the  law  books.  Ex- 
plained by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford 148 

7.  The  Church  needs  a  rod  in  reserve,  as  well  as  the 
spirit  of  meekness.  Our  Disciplinary  System  has  yet  to 
be  formulated  and  adjusted.     The  Church  must  seek 

to  command  respect  as  well  as  to  inspire  affection 158 

LECTURE  V. 

The  Church's  Duty  to  a  divided  Christendom. 

1.  Heavenly  Charity  and  Wisdom  from  above,  twin-sis- 
ters.    Both  to  be  observed  in  dealing  with  Divisions.. .   163 


Contents. 


PAGE 

2.  Oiir  attitude  towards  the  Roman  Churches.  The  res 
gesta  show  that  we  never  renounced  communion  with 
them.  Papal  Supremacy  renounced  in  1535.  No  rival 
altars  erected  for  thirty-five  years.  Severance  effected 
in  1569,  by  the  bull  excommunicating  and  anathema- 
tizing Elizabeth  and  her  subjects.  Complaint  of  Jewell. 
Eirenicon  of  Pusey 164 

3.  The  Bishops  of  this  Church  in  1880  asserted  their  rights 
to  intervene  in  Roman  countries.  On  two  grounds,  viz.: 
the  wrong  done  to  the  Faith  and  to  the  independence 

of  the  Episcopate.    168 

4.  Illustration  of  the  practical  difficulties  of  M.  Loyson. 
Intrusion  sometimes  a  duty.  Prudence  and  com-tesy  to 
be  used.  Our  failure  in  Mexico  should  not  dishearten, 
but  lead  us  to  amend  mistakes 170 

5.  The  multiplicity  of  "  orthodox  churches."  Denomina- 
tionalism  not  deliberately  intended.  Division  origin- 
ally a  lamented  necessity.  It  is  by  a  drift  that  men 
have  come  to  prefer  it  to  unity.  Mitigations  of  a  cen- 
sorious judgment 176 

6.  Divergencies  between  the  old  and  the  new  religion. 
The  exclusively  subjective  view  of  the  Christian  man 
and  consequent  depreciation  of  his  corporate  life  in  the 
mediatorial  kingdom.  The  doctrine  of  the  revival,  and 
of  sanctification  attained  by  act  of  faith  rather  than 
by  self-discipline.  The  Church  suspected  of  indifference 

to  experimental  piety 183 

7.  Yet  many  minds  are  thinking  about  unity.  The  eco- 
nomical question.  The  request  for  comprehension,  a 
thing  possible  in  the  future . .  188 

8.  This  a  part  of  the  large  problem,  how  to  comprehend  in 
one  Church,  various  races  and  languages  and  shades 
of  opinion.  The  case  of  the  Negro  race,  an  illustration 
of  the  whole.     Legislation   attempted  and  defeated  in 

1883.... 190 

9.  Suggestion  that  it  may  be  solved  by  making  the  race, 
nationality,  or  denomination,  a  Guild,  or  Conference  of 
the  Diocese,  with  a  Suffragan  over  it  ;  all  under  the 
Episcopal  and  Diocesan  government :  and  by  a  dis- 
cretion in  things  liturgical,  and  in  qualification  for 
Orders 193 


Contents. 


LECTURE  VI. 

The    Church's   claim   upo?i   the  Loyal   Service   of 
Her    Clergy. 

PAGE 

1.  Our  Lord's  consent  to  subordination  of  office,  an  exam- 
ple to  all  who  inherit  a  Divine  commission 197 

2.  The  Church's  claim  t  the  loyal  service  of  her  clergy. 
The  future  of  the  American  Church  dependent  on  the 
fealty  of  her  Ministry 198 

3.  The  field  of  the  Church,  the  world.  That  world  parcel- 
led out  among  particular  Churches.  Each  such  Church 
responsible  for  its  own  allotment,  and  for  the  work  done 
therein  by  its  representatives I99 

4.  The  authority  of  the  body  delegated  to  individual  min- 
isters. Orders  no  man's  right,  but  a  privilege  con- 
ceded :  and  that  with  the  precautions  of  examination, 
publicity,  challenge,  and  specific  pledges  to  do  certain 
things  in  a  certain  way .  200 

5.  Qbjections  stated 203 

6.  The  objection  considered  that  the  Minister  is  not  a 
machine  In  grace  as  in  nature,  results  are  attained 
by  composition  of  forces.  In  religious  ministrations, 
subordination  and  individuality  restrain,  but  do  not 
destroy  each  other 204 

7.  Objection.  We  are  Priests  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  so  entitled  to  correct  and  supplement  the  teaching 
of  the  local  body.  This  to  be  considered  before  taking 
Orders.  Enquiry  into  supposed  omissions  and  sup- 
pressions, viz.  Auricular  Confession.  Eucharistic  Ador- 
ation.    Solitary  Celebration,  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead.   208 

8.  Objection  that  the  pretence  of  authority  is  the  claim  of 
Infallibility.  Authority  in  things  scientific,  social  and 
civil,  although  confessedly  fallible,  is  acknowledged 
and  revered.  The  Church's  statement  of  authority  not 
extravagant 2l8 

9.  Objection  that  the  Prayer  Book  is  too  small  to  be  a 
complete  directory,  and  too  large  to  be  binding  in  its 
syllables.  Room  for  discretion.  To  be  precise  is  to  be 
honest 221 

10.  Disloyalty  exemplified  in  the  concrete 225 

11.  Conclusion.  The  Clergy,  as  they  keep  themselves  pure, 

are  also  to  keep  the  official  conscience  clean 230 


LECTURE    I. 

The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church. 


THE    CHURCH    IN  THE   NATION. 


LECTURE   I. 

THE    TRUE  IDEAL  OF  THE   CHURCH. 

"Built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone." — Eph.  ii.  20. 

npHE  Founder  of  these  Lectures  has  prescribed 

-*-       as  the   subject  of  them,  "  The  Defence  of 

the  ReHgion  of  Jesus  Christ,  as   revealed  in  the 

Holy  Scriptures  and  illustrated  in  the  Book  of 

Common  Prayer  against  the  varying   errors  of 

the  day,"  and  also  its  defence  and  confirmation 

in    respect    of   certain    "  Central    Truths "  and 

"  Central  Facts  "  set  forth  in  the  Deed  of  Trust. 

Among  these  Central  Facts  are  specified  : 

"The  Church's  Divine  Order  and  Sacraments; 

Her  Historical  Reformation;  and  Her  Rights  and 

Powers  as  a  Pure  and  National  Church." 

It  is  with  the  last  of  these  that  we  propose  to 
deal;  and  inasmuch  as  Duties  and  Responsibilities 
are  the  correlatives  of  Rights  and  Powers,  we 
may  be  permitted  to  enlarge  the  statement  and 
to  speak  of  The  Pure  and  National  Church, 
2  17 


TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 


Her  Rights  and  Powers,  Her  Duties  and 
Responsibilities. 

That  there  is  in  the  land  a  Church  whose  juris- 
diction is  co-cxtensive  with  the  Nationahty,  that 
her  Purity  in  Doctrine  and  Order  is  such  as  to 
deserve  our  confidence,  that  she  has  Rights  and 
Powers  which  are  entitled  to  recognition,  that 
she  has  Duties  which  may  not  be  devolved  on 
others,  and  Responsibilities  which  she  must  coura- 
geously accept, — these  are  the  theses  which  we 
seek  to  defend.  Or  to  use  a  shorter  title,  Law, 
Liberty,  and  Loyalty  in  a  Pure  and  Na- 
tional Church,  sum  up  the  matters  which  I 
come  to  lay  before  you. 

n.  In  a  country  which  has  barely  begun  to 
have  a  religious  history,  the  affirmation  of  a  Na- 
tional Church  with  prescriptive  Rights  runs 
counter  to  our  habits  of  thought.  Moreover  the 
ultra- Protestant  and  the  pseudo-Catholic  mind, 
have  agreed  together  to  minimize  to  the  very  ut- 
most the  right  of  any  local  ecclesiastical  corpora- 
tion to  meddle  with  our  doctrine,  our  morals,  or 
our  devotions.  In  the  view  of  many  the  function 
of  the  Church  is  to  advise,  rather  than  to  teach. 
Her  utterances  are  worth  just  so  many  times  the 
utterance  of  one  of  the  units  whereof  she  is  made 


The   Tnic  Ideal  of  the  Chmrh.  19 

up.  Her  authority  is  the  aggregate  wisdom  of 
the  age  in  which  she  lives. 

Thus,  in  the  opinion  of  one,  the  individual  is  his 
own  authority.  He  receives  the  truth  of  God  as 
he  reads  it  in  nature  or  in  The  Book.  The  word 
Must  in  the  mouth  of  the  Church  is  offensive  to 
him.  He  looks  for  a  Church  of  the  Future,  held 
together  by  the  law  of  love,  without  dogmas  or 
positive  institutions. 

In  the  view  of  another,  no  one  ecclesiastical 
corporation  within  restricted  limits,  utters  the 
Catholic  voice  with  binding  authority.  He  looks 
behind  the  living  utterance  of  a  present  guide, 
and  sees  the  teaching  of  Prophets  and  Doctors, 
in  the  haze  which  Newman  once  threw  over  it 
as  a  vast  system,  "  not  to  be  comprised  in  a  few 
sentences,  not  to  be  embodied  in  one  code  or 
treatise,  but  consisting  of  a  certain  body  of  Truth, 
pervading  the  Church  like  an  atmosphere,  irregu- 
lar in  its  shape  from  its  very  profusion  and  ex- 
uberance :  at  times  separable  only  in  idea  from 
Episcopal  tradition,  yet  at  times  melting  away 
into  legend  and  fable ;  partly  written,  partly 
unwritten,  partly  the  interpretation,  partly  the 
supplement  of  Scripture ;  partly  preserved  in 
intellectual    expressions,    partly    latent    in    the 


The  Church  in  the  Nation. 


spirit  and  temper  of  Christians :  poured  to  and 
fro  in  closets  and  upon  the  housetops,  in  Utur- 
gies,  in  obscure  fragments,  in  sermons,  in  popu- 
lar prejudices,  in    local  customs.^  " 

There  is  to  some  minds  a  fascination  in  the 
haziness  of  that  description. 

It  is  held  by  some  that  the  young  Priest,  with- 
out guidance,  supervision  or  responsibility  to  any 
present  authority,  may  out  of  these  scattered 
members,  build  up  his  body  of  divinity.  Un- 
regulated private  judgment,  whether  it  call  itself 
Evangelical  or  Catholic,  is  destructive  of  unity. 
Conformity  to  an  abstract  Christianity,  or  to 
an  abstract  Catholicity,  is  meaningless,  so  far 
as  concerns  co-ordinated  and  efficient  work  for 
God.  They  both  come  to  the  same  thing. 
They  mean  irresponsibility,  individualism,  and 
license  without  limit. 

It  is  a  grave  question,  and  intensely  practical 
to  each  several  Christian  soul:  Has  my  Lord 
confided  me  for  guidance  to  any  visible  author- 
ity? Has  the  Father  in  Heaven  provided  for  me 
an  earthly  mother,  very  far,  alas  !  from  being  as 
pure  and  infallible  as  Himself,  but  for  all  that, 
very  wise  and  very  loving,  whom  I  may  venerate 

'  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine,  ch.  ii.  sec.  2. 


The   True  Ideal  of  the  Church. 


21 


as  my  own  proper  guardian,  whom  I  may  trust 
with  confidence  and  love  with  enthusiasm  ? 

III.  These  lectures  are    delivered    under  the 
auspices   of  the  General  Theological  Seminary. 
Hence  the  pertinency  of  my  theme.      To  fight 
well,  it  becomes  you  to  define  your  allegiance, 
and  that,  in  the  concrete  as  well  as  in  the  abstract. 
I  mean  the  allegiance  due  to  the  Church,  Dioce- 
san and  National,  as  well  as  to  the  Church  Catho- 
lic.    There  are  army  corps    as  well  as  armies, 
regimental    flags    as   well    as  national    banners. 
The  good  soldier  adds  to  his  patriotism  the  esprit 
du  eorps.     He  is  to  be  pitied,  who  ventures   into 
the    fray,  ignorant  or  dubious  of  an  immediate 
authority,  whose  marching  orders  he  is  bound  to 
obey.     Alas !  for  him,  whose  beloved  is  to  him 
no  more  than  another  man's  beloved,  who  re- 
cognizes no  special  matronly  dignity  and  purity, 
in  her  who  calls  him  son.     Stinted  must  be  the 
service  of  him,  who  fails  to  realize  that  the  Church 
is,  of  right,  the  Church  of  the  nation,  and  that  in 
her  behalf,  he  is  a  debtor  to  all  within  the  nation's 
limits,  accessible  to  him  and  content  to  accept  his 
ministrations. 

I  find  in  this  task  a  labor  of  love,  and  in  per- 
forming it,  I   seem  to  be  discharging   a  debt  of 


22  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

gratitude.  For  I  can  truly  say,  after  checkered 
experience,  that  the  ministry  is  a  pleasant  work. 
For  the  content  I  have  found  in  it,  and  for  any 
help  and  comfort  I  may  ever  have  given  to  fel- 
low-sinners and  fellow-sufferers,  I  am  chiefly  in- 
debted to  the  pains- taking  of  a  Bishop,  who  was 
thoroughly  persuaded  that  he  was  a  pastor  of 
pastors,  who  made  of  each  young  clergyman 
personally,  a  study  and  a  care. 

Bishop  Cobbs  did  not  teach  ecclesiastical  op- 
timism, or  encourage  ecclesiastical  insolence. 
To  faults  of  practice  and  deficiencies  of  adminis- 
tration in  the  Church  he  was  keenly  alive. 
To  the  zeal  of  the  denominations,  and  the 
saintliness  of  many  of  their  members  he  paid  all 
due  tribute.  But  he  persuaded  us,  that  this 
Church  that  gives  us  orders,  is  a  Pure  Church,  a 
National  Church,  unique  among  religious  bod- 
ies, in  prestige  and  authority. 

He  admonished  us  that  she  has  not  been  dere- 
lict to  the  doctrine  and  traditions  of  the  Catholic 
body  whereof  she  is  a  member :  and  that  in  all 
that  touches  experimental  religion,  in  all  that  con- 
cerns the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man,  its  ori- 
gin, its  development,  its  evidences  and  results, 
no  particular  Church,  from  the  earliest  days,  has 


The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  23 

ever  spoken  with  more  wisdom,  more  unction, 
more  fidelity  to  her  instructions.  Without  such 
confidence,  I  trust  not  a  Wind  and  unreasoning 
confidence,  the  burden  of  the  ministry  had  been 
intolerable. 

Sufficient  indeed  are  the  difficulties,  which  may 
not  be  avoided  :  but  if  one  is  uncertain  of  the 
rock  on  which  he  stands,  of  the  shield  which 
guards  his  breast,  of  the  sword  with  which  he 
smites  or  of  the  authority  from  which  his  orders 
emanate,  little  wonder  is  it,  if  he  faint  in  the  day 
of  adversity. 

God  grant  that  I  may  find  arguments  and 
words  to  fortify  you  in  a  reasonable  and  yet  an 
enthusiastic  devotion  to  the  Church  which  de- 
mands your  affections  and  your  allegiance  as  her 
rightful  due  ! 

IV.  In  entering  upon  this  duty,  it  seems  requi- 
site to  dwell  upon  that  which  underlies  all  such 
discussion,  the  just  conception  of  the  Catholic 
Church  of  Christ.  Out  of  this  must  grow  our  esti- 
mate of  the  Particular  or  National  Church.  Our 
text  tells  us  of  the  Church  as  an  edifice,  with 
apostles  and  prophets  for  a  foundation,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  corner-stone,  our  sepa- 
rate selves  as  living  stones   builded  into  the  one 


24  The  Clnirch  in  the  Natioii. 

harmonious  whole,  and  all  intended  to  be  an  ha- 
bitation of  God,  through  His  Spirit. 

We  may  be  told  that  the  search  for  the  ideal 
is  illusory  and  unpractical. 

Men  disdain  the  realities  of  opportunity  and 
privilege,  because  they  find  in  them  an  imperfect 
realization  of  the  ideal.  The  divine  workman  has 
consented  to  fetter  Himself  by  such  conditions  as 
limit  the  earth-born  poet  or  artist.  His  utter- 
ances, in  themselves  essential  truth,  must  reach 
our  ears  through  the  medium  of  language;  among 
the  most  magnificent  of  our  endowments,  but  by 
no  means  a  perfect  vehicle  of  thought. 

The  City  of  God,  as  the  Great  Architect  has 
planned  it,  lieth  four-square  ;  and  the  length  and 
the  breadth  and  the  height  of  it  are  equal :  nor 
shall  that  ideal  fail  to  be  realized.  But  by  rea- 
son of  the  rigidity  of  material  and  the  inadequacy 
of  His  journeymen,  we  see  in  this  present  time 
many  a  wall  outside  of  alignment,  many  a  de- 
fect of  proportion,  many  an  accretion  marring  the 
graciousness  of  the  contour. 

It  is  by  reference  to  an  ideal  that  we  deter- 
mine our  standard  of  spiritual  excellence. 

To  be  perfect  as  God  is  perfect,  to  possess  that 
mind  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  is  our  habitual  as- 


The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  25 

piration.  We  do  not  consent  to  dismiss  from 
our  thought  as  a  dream  and  a  delusion,  the  ideal 
of  saintliness  because  the  realization  falls  short  of 
the  mark. 

In  the  visible  Church,  as  in  the  personal  relig- 
ious life,  it  is  by  recurrence  to  the  pattern  showed 
in  the  mount,  that  we  must  save  ourselves  from 
progressive  deterioration. 

V.  Now  there  is  a  Church  Ideal  which  differs 
widely  from  the  true.  It  is  claimed,  and  with 
reason,  by  orthodox  Christians  around  us,  that 
amid  their  innumerable  discrepancies,  there  is  a 
substantial  agreement  among  themselves,  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  they  work  together  har- 
moniously in  revival  services,  in  Christian  as- 
sociations, and  in  Bible  and  Tract  Societies.  It  is 
said,  and  I  think  truly  said,  that  there  is  in  the 
United  States,  an  average  Popular  Religion,  al- 
most identical  in  its  teaching  as  to  the  subjective 
element  in  religion,  however  those  who  hold  it 
have  built  up  partition  walls,  easily  scaled  when 
zeal  and  love  are   awakened. 

This  Church  Ideal,  as  commonly  accepted,  is 
very  familiar  to  the  missionaries  of  the  Church, 
and  the  rural  pastors  whose  journeys  bring  them 
into  contact  with  the  multitude.     Occasion  often 


26  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

causes  them  to  sit  down  by  the  fireside  of  stran- 
gers not  of  our  communion,  accepting  a  hospital- 
ity which,  to  the  praise  of  our  people  be  it  spoken, 
seldom  fails  to  welcome  heartily  any  man  of  God 
who  asks  a  lodging.  The  form  of  the  welcome  is 
almost  stereotyped.  The  host  is  not  of  your 
church  ;  but  that  makes  no  manner  of  difference; 
that  which  suits  one  man  does  not  suit  another. 
He  loves  all  the  churches  :  there  is  good  in  all, 
and  there  are  good  people  in  all :  and  they  all 
offer  different  roads  to  the  same  destination. 

When  we  engage  in  conversation  with  some 
representative  man  of  sufficient  intelligence,  it 
soon  appears  that  he  is  heartily  at  one  with  the 
CathoHc  Creed  in  some  of  its  articles,  such  as 
affirm  a  Father-God,  a  Saviour  dying  for  men, 
Forgiveness  to  be  had  for  sin,  and  the  Future 
Life  of  glory.  Of  the  Personality  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  has  never  thought  seriously.  He 
conceives  of  Him  as  an  influence.  The  Holy 
Catholic  Church  is  meaningless  to  him,  or  even, 
as  he  thinks,  a  dangerous  phrase.  Of  the 
Communion  of  Saints,  he  can  give  no  intelligible 
account. 

He  uses  the  word  Church  much  as  fashionable 
people  use  the  word  Society,  to  describe  those 


The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  27 

with  whom  they  are  on  famiHar  terms.  It  is 
a  comprehensive  word,  including  the  great  mul- 
titude of  people  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  and  are 
seeking  the  Kingdom.  It  does  not  imply  any 
organic  union.  The  Church  is  the  aggregate  of 
faithful  men,  and  "  Churches  "  are  associations, 
promotive  of  individual  piety,  and  of  united 
action,  none  of  them  claiming  any  paramount 
right  of  jurisdiction  over  the  souls  of  men,  but 
each  one  relying  for  acceptance  upon  its  scriptural 
doctrines,  its  efficient  arrangements,  its  spiritual 
fervor.  I  do  not  say  that  any  article  of  the 
Creed,  except  perhaps  the  Descent  into  Hell, 
is  distinctly  repudiated,  but  the  doctrines  of  the 
Incarnation,  the  Paraclete,  the  Church,  have 
been  dwarfed  of  their  just  proportions,  in  the 
accepted  schemes  of  divinity. 

One  grieves  to  say  it,  but  the  fact  often  stares 
us  in  the  face  :  there  are  multitudes  of  good, 
prayerful  people  in  the  land,  who  are  at  last, 
unconscious  Sabellians  and  Apollinarians. 

Now  the  Church,  in  its  true  ideal,  grows  out 
of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Mission  of  the  Com- 
forter. Explain  the  Church  away,  let  it  be  no  lon- 
ger the  visible  body  of  an  invisible  Head,  united 
to  Him  by  the  joints  and  bands  of  a  veritable 


28  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

humanity,  a  meeting  place,  where  things  spiritual 
and  things  material  so  interpenetrate,  that  while 
we  may  discriminate,  we  cannot  sever  them : 
and  little  wonder  is  it,  that  men  forget  that  our 
Lord  was  perfect  man,  of  a  reasonable  soul  and 
human  flesh  subsisting :  little  wonder  that  they 
forget  the  reverence  due  to  a  redeemed  body, 
the  excellence  of  bodily  acts  of  worship,  the 
nearness  to  us  of  souls  at  rest  in  Paradise,  and 
the  blessedness  of  the  expectation  that  we  and 
they,  alike,  shall  have  one  common  birthday  into 
the  perfected  joy,  when  our  Lord  shall  come 
again. 

Let  the  Church  become  vague  and  unreal 
to  the  thought,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  wronged 
of  that  domain,  to  which  He  was  sent  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son  at  Pentecost,  dwelling  there- 
in as  in  a  Palace,  and  thence,  ministering  gifts  to 
one  and  to  another,  according  to  His  sovereign 
will  and  pleasure.  No  wonder  that  in  the  thought 
of  many,  "  Holy  Spirit "  is  no  more  than  a 
synonym    for  "the   grace  of  God." 

Nor  are  other  consequences  wanting.  If  the 
Church  is  unreal,  then  are  the  Sacraments  un- 
realities, in  which  grace  is  no  longer  "  exhibited 
and  conferred."     I  need  barely  allude  to  the  dis- 


The   True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  29 

placement  in  the  popular  system  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  from  its  proper  eminence.  I  will  not 
display  at  length  the  painful  statistics  which  show 
the  disuse  of  Baptism.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
official  reports  from  congregations  where  pro- 
vision is  made  for  baptizing  infants,  often  show 
that  in  the  year  not  more  than  one  child  has 
been  baptized  in  the  families  represented  by  a 
hundred  communicants. 

VI.  I  have  it  not  in  my  heart  to  speak  other- 
wise than  kindly  and  respectfully  of  the  multi- 
tudes who  adhere  to  this  popular  religion.  I 
cannot  divest  myself  of  the  impression,  that  it  is 
no  compromise  of  principle  to  introduce  a  mea- 
sure of  modesty  and  courtesy  into  our  criticism 
of  systems,  whose  adherents  largely  outnumber 
us.  I  have  learned  long  since,  that  if  among 
them  some  great  truths  are  suppressed,  saving 
truth  is  earnestly  preached  and  zealously  pro- 
mulgated. I  cannot,  if  I  were  so  disposed,  shut 
my  eyes  to  the  magnificence  of  their  undertak- 
ings, to  the  ubiquity  of  their  enterprise,  to  the 
wisdom  of  their  administrative  policies,  to  the 
saintly  character  of  many  of  their  heroes.  I  am 
far  from  imputing  to  them  reckless  division  of 
the  Body  of  Christ  or  conscious  withholding  of 


30  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

God's  holy  truth.  As  a  rule,  they  are  doing  the 
best  they  know,  in  a  state  of  things  into  which 
they  were  born,  and  which  they  did  not  create, 
following  the  purest  patterns  of  doctrine  and 
practice  familiar  to  them.  If  we  may  not  win 
them,  we  can  largely  influence  them,  and  this  is 
no  small  gain.  It  is  for  this  reason  I  urge,  that 
the  true  Ideal  of  the  Church,  now  generally  dis- 
carded, should  be  distinctly  asserted  and  unfalter- 
ingly maintained. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  persuade  one's  self  that 
whatever  is,  is  right.  Men  who  have  opened 
their  eyes  upon  an  ecclesiastical  chaos,  and  who 
from  childhood  have  learned  at  the  feet  of  their 
wisest  and  best,  that  it  is  God's  will  it  should  be 
so,  learn  to  reconcile  themselves  to  an  ideal  of 
Christianity,  as  a  conglomerate  of  religious  asso- 
ciations, each  standing  on  a  platform  of  its  own 
construction. 

VII.  But  if  one  emancipates  himself  from  the 
limitations  of  his  country  and  his  time,  if  from  a 
standpoint  far  enough  removed  from  the  dis- 
tractions of  his  immediate  atmosphere  to  allow 
the  panorama  of  history  to  unfold  before  him,  he 
casts  a  rapid  glance  over  all  the  countries  and 
all  the  lands,  he  sees  the  Church  otherwise  than 


The  True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  31 

as  men  discern  it  now.  He  beholds  a  something 
visible  and  real:  an  organic  body  with  numerous 
members,  harmoniously  articulated  together.  It 
stands  out  above  the  plane  of  human  affairs,  as 
boldly  as  rises  the  Pyramid  above  the  sands  of 
Egypt.  No  more  than  that  enormous  construc- 
tion, can  this  fact  in  history  be  explained  away. 
It  stands  before  our  eyes,  as  the  most  real  and 
the  most  enduring  of  all  social  organisms  ;  not 
an  aggregate  of  units,  but  a  Corporation  with  a 
charter,  with  the  power  of  self-perpetuation,  with 
organic  laws,  with  rulers  and  subjects,  and  with 
legislative  powers,  again  and  again  exercised,  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  time  and  circumstances. 
If  this  conception  of  God's  plan  for  perpetuat- 
ing and  extending  his  religion,  be  a  delusion,  if 
the  leaves  of  the  Gospel,  adequate,  when  rightly 
applied,  to  the  healing  of  the  nations,  were  con- 
signed to  no  visible  witness  and  keeper,but  left  in- 
stead to  be  dispensed  by  individuals  and  volun- 
tary associations :  if,  in  a  word,  denominational- 
ism,  as  we  know  it,  is  the  normal  method  ordain- 
ed of  God,  and  approved  of  God  to  these  ends, 
we  have  a  right  to  throw  the  burden  of  proof  on 
those  who  contradict  the  unbroken  testimony  of 
the  ages. 


32  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

The  impromptu  utterances  of  experience  and 
conviction  are  sometimes  more  forcible  than  the 
definition  coldly  elaborated. 

While  I  was  considering  how  to  express  the 
divine  ideal  of  the  Church,  a  brother  in  the  Epis- 
copate suggested,  as  something  most  needful  for 
the  clergy  to  know  well,  and  for  the  people  to 
know  now,  that "  CHRISTIANITY  is  A  Kingdom 
UNDER  A  King,  both  living  realities  to- 
day:    THE     FORMER     NOT     AN   ABSTRACTION, 

but  a  real  thing,  the  latter  not  a 
dead  Saviour,  but  a  living  Lord;  and 
Christianity,  not  only  a  Kingdom,  but 
A   Covenant    Kingdom  with  all    which 

THAT   involves." 

I  adopt  this  language  as  my  own,  and  urge 
that  this  representation  of  our  holy  religion,  is 
not  dependent  on  scattered  texts,  figurative  in 
their  construction  and  doubtful  in  their  interpre- 
tation. It  is  inwrought  into  the  very  warp  of 
sacred  narrative :  it  is  enunciated  in  statements 
the  simplest  and  most  direct :  it  underlies  all  the 
economy  of  evangelic  dispensation. 

VIII.  At  the  place  of  execution  there  was 
set  above  the  head  of  the  dying  Jesus  a  sentence 
of  accusation  written  :  so  written  in  the  languages 


Tlie   True  Ideal  of  the  CJmrch.  33 

appropriate  to  religion,  to  philosophy,  and  to  em- 
pire, that  all  may  read.  It  is  inscribed  by  the 
hand  of  a  heathen  magistrate,  and  is  the  echo 
of  that  prisoner's  own  words  when  standing 
at  his  tribunal.  Some  strange  instinct  lends 
obstinacy  to  him  who  all  that  dark  day  had 
wavered  and  vacillated.  No  remonstrance  can 
now  lead  him  to  erase  or  mar  the  record.  As 
Caiaphas  in  his  very  worldliness  had  announced 
the  need  of  an  atonement,  so  the  Deputy,  grop- 
ing in  the  dark,  incredulous  or  disdainful  of  all 
pretension  to  essential  truth,  writes  it  large  and 
clear,  that  Jesus  IS  THE  FOUNDER  OF  A  King- 
DOM,  AND   ITS  PROPER  KiNG. 

Let  it  not  be  said  in  disparagement  of  the  veri- 
ty of  our  Lord's  Kingdom,  that  it  is  not  of  nature 
but  of  grace;  that  the  secret  of  its  strength  is  in 
its  truthfulness  and  not  in  might  of  arm  ;  that  it 
comes  not  to  rival  any  earthly  throne,  or  to  win 
any  subject  from   his  civil  allegiance. 

These  allegations,  so  far  from  being  object- 
ions, are  necessary  postulates  with  those  who 
affirm  the  reality  of  the  King  and  the  visibility 
of  the  Kingdom.  That  His  domain  is  extended 
not  by  force,  but  by  the  manifestation  of  the 
truth;  that  His  empire  over  His  subjects  is  main- 
3 


34  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

tained  by  the  influence  of  love  rather  than  the 
infliction  of  penalties,  so  far  from  removing  His 
royalty  from  the  category  of  Kingdoms,  ele- 
vates it  above  them  all,  and  makes  it  the  subli- 
mest  of  Kingdoms. 

Let  us  put  the  popular  gloss  upon  our  Lord's 
disavowal  before  Pilate.  Assume  for  a  moment 
that  the  Kingdom  which  He  asserts,  is  a  King- 
dom only  in  the  way  of  analogy  and  figure ; 
that  in  its  essence,  it  exists  only  in  the  realm  of 
Spirit ;  that  it  is  no  more  than  the  "  fellowship 
of  kindred  minds,"  the  voluntary  submission  of 
thought  and  will  to  a  spiritual  mastery  :  a  some- 
thing analogous  to  the  Schools  of  thought  which 
great  minds  have  founded,  visible  embodiment 
being  a  permissible  accident,  but  in  no  wise  es- 
sential to  the  truth  of  the  definition. 

How  shall  we  reconcile  with  such  conception, 
our  Lord's  evident  actions  and  His  distinctest 
affirmations  ?  Kingdoms  must  have  a  territory 
— Christ  tells  us  that  His  own  embraces  earth 
and  heaven.  Kings  must  have  subjects.  Birth 
within  their  proper  domain,  adoption  or  natural- 
ization confer  the  privileges  of  citizenship  and 
entail  its  obligations.  And  Christ  declares  that 
it  is  by  a  birth  that  men  enter  into  His  kingdom, 


The   True  Ideal  of  the   Church.  35 

by  a  birth  not  all  secret  and  invisible,  not  by  two 
several  and  separable  acts  of  initiation,  but  by 
one  birth,  in  which  the  spiritual  and  the  material 
unites.  It  needs  little  skill  to  interpret  the  say- 
ing. The  laws  of  language  imperatively  forbid 
us  to  say,  "  born  of  water  and  born  of  spirit ;"  it 
is  the  ivater-and-spirit-born  who  are  the  citizens 
of  the  kingdom.'  The  post-resurrection  teach- 
ing is  to  the  same  effect.  He  that  believeth  and 
is  baptized  shall  be  saved.  So  long  as  the  rite 
of  initiation  is  a  visible  transaction,  the  society 
into  which  it  introduces  us,  must  be  actual  not 
idsal,  accessible  to  man  in  the  completeness  of 
his  humanity,  with  bodily  attendance  as  well  as 
spiritual  submission.  Kings,  however  designa- 
ted, rule  by  divine  right.  "  By  me  kings  rule  and 
princes  administer  justice."  The  crown  may 
descend  by  inheritance,  it  may  be  grasped  by 
conquest,  it  may  be  conceded  by  subjects  in  ac- 
knowledgment of  superiority  of  merit. 

Christ  claimed  His  empire  as  His  Father's 
heir,  and  denied  that  He  was  justly  liable  for 
the   payment  of  the  half-shekel  Temple  dues. 

'  If  there  were  two  several  births,  the  preposition  would 
have  need  to  be  repeated.  But  there  is  one  yevvrjdi'i,  i'l 
■Cdaroi  Kcii    Ilvev/uaro?.    John  iii.  5. 


36  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

He  claims  the  Kingdom,  because  He  won  it 
back  when  it  was  in  revolt  against  its  lawful 
sovereign.  It  is  confirmed  to  Him  by  the  vol- 
untary submission  of  His  saints,  who  delight  to 
lay  all  honors  at  the  feet  of  Him,  the  King  and 
the  King-maker;  therefore  on  His  head  are  many 
crowns.  It  belongs  to  kings  to  govern  through 
the  intervention  of  subordinates,  confiding  to 
them  within  suitable  limits  their  own  powers, 
and  investing  them  with  the  authority  to  estab- 
lish courts  and  try  causes  :  to  administer  penal- 
ties and  to  remit  them  :  to  levy  contribution  of 
service  and  of  goods. 

And  what  is  the  post-resurrection  Gospel,  what 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  but  an  account  devel- 
oping into  form  and  actual  being,  the  empire  of 
His  thought,  establishing  its  hierarchies,  defin- 
ing the  condition  of  citizenship  and  the  mode  of 
initiation,  ordering  its  discipline  and  prescrib- 
ing its  obligations  ?  Where  may  we  find  a 
hint  that  the  administration  of  the  divine  gift 
was  left  at  loose  ends  ?  What  sign  is  there,  that 
the  subordinate  honors  of  this  kingdom  might 
be  self-assumed,  without  official  investiture  .-' 

IX.  Again  we  say,  the  Church  of  the  Acts  was 
an  organized  Society,  and   not  an  undisciplined 


The   Tntc  Ideal  of  the  Church.  ij 

crowd  of  believers.  The  Church  of  the  ages  suc- 
ceeding knew  not  of  itself  as  a  congeries  of  asso- 
ciations. Says  Jeremy  Taylor,  "  Here  is- the  first 
separation  and  singularity  of  the  Gospel :  all 
that  hear  the  voice  of  Christ's  first  call,  all  that 
profess  themselves  His  disciples,  all  that  take 
His  signature,  they  and  their  children  are  the 
Church  ;  an  'EKuXr/dicx:,  called  out  from  the  rest 
of  the  world,  the  "  elect "  and  the  "chosen  of 
God."  ' 

The  elect  are  such  as  bear  the  visible  divine 
signature  ;  with  this  agrees  our  Lord's  own  ac- 
count of  His  Kingdom.  If  that  Kingdom  were 
purely  spiritual,  if  the  signature  of  its  members 
were  the  inward  faith  and  not  the  visible  sacra- 
ment. He  would  not  fail  to  tell  us  so.  But  He 
speaks  in  another  fashion.  His  Kingdom  is  a 
field  where  wheat  and  tares  grow  together,  and 
neither  may  be  rooted  out,  until  they  have  borne 
their  fruits,  and  endured  the  divine  discrimina- 
tion. His  Kingdom  is  a  net,  comprehending  the 
good  and  the  evil. 

Or  again,  unless  the  Church  be  real  and  visi- 
ble, what  can  we  make  of  such  words  as  these : 
"  I  am  the  true  vine,  and  my  Father  is  the  hus- 

'  Vol.  ii.  p.  III.     Sermon  x. 


38  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

bandman.  Every  branch  in  me  that  beareth 
not  fruit,  he  taketh  away."  '  Barrenness  is  not 
predicable  of  such  as  are  united  to  Christ  by  a 
hving  faith.  If  those  only  are  elect  members 
of  the  vine,  who  are  thus  united  to  it,  then  is 
barrenness   in   the  branch   simply  inconceivable. 

But  because  the  Church  is  a  visible  Kingdom, 
and  Baptism  the  formal  signature  of  the  citizen- 
ship, therefore  is  it  that  men  who  show  not  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit,  have  in  the  truth  and  reality 
of  this  citizenship,  the  aggravation  of  their  un- 
faithfulness. 

X.  Our  Prince  is  a  Living  Lord.  When 
with  superhuman  strength  He  pulled  down  the 
temple  of  the  world's  idols,  He  did  not  lie 
crushed  and  exanimate  beneath  the  ruins. 
When  He  made  perfect  our  redemption,  He 
did  not  retire  victorious,  but  exhausted,  into  rest 
and  inaction.  An  ever-living  King,  He  rules 
His  Church,  howbeit  He  carries  on  its  work  on 
earth  by  delegation  to  chosen  men.  "  Thou 
hast  ascended  on  high.  Thou  hast  led  captivity 
captive,  Thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men."  "^ 

Thus  sung  the  Psalmist.  And  then  St.  Paul, 
in  his  comment  on  the  psalm,  gives  us  the  cata- 
1  John  XV.  i.  2  Psalm  kviii,  i8. 


The   True  Ideal  of  the  CJuirch.  39 

logue  of  these  gifts.  It  is  a  noble  passage ;  a 
magnificent  description  of  a  body  to  be  seen  and 
touched  and  handled,  and  yet  having  its  utmost 
glory  in  a  spiritual  life,  which  itself  unseen  and 
untouched,  permeates  the  structure.  "  When  he 
ascended  up  on  high,  he  led  captivity  captive  and 
gave  gifts  to  men.  *  *  *  And  he  gave  some 
apostles  ;  and  some,  prophets  ;  and  some,  evan- 
gelists ;  and  some  pastors  and  teachers ;  for  the 
perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ ;"  and 
the  purpose  of  these  gifts  of  earthly  ministries  is 
that  we  "  may  grow  up  into  him  in  all  things, 
which  is  the  head,  even  Christ,  from  whom  the 
whole  body  fidy  joined  together  and  compacted 
by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according 
to  the  effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  every 
part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body  unto  the  edify- 
ing of  itself  in  love."  ' 

Our  Prince,  however  secluded  from  our  view 
in  the  present  time,  liveth  and  abideth  ever.  He 
walks  unseen  in  the  midst  of  the  golden  candle- 
sticks and  holds  in  his  hand  the  stars  of  the 
churches. 

Joash  indeed  grasped  the  bow  and  fitted  the 
>  Epistle  in  Ordination  of  Priests.     Eph.  iv.  7. 


40  The   CJnircJi  in  tJic  Nation. 

arrow  for  its  flight.  But  it  was  the  hands  of 
EHsha  superposed  upon  the  king's  hands,  that 
converted  that  feeble  missile  into  the  arrow  of  the 
Lord's  deliverance.  And  thus  the  Catholic 
Christian  recognizes  in  all  the  Church's  doings, 
the  presence  most  awful  and  most  real ;  hovvbeit 
none  may  mark  the  manner  of  His  coming  and 
going,  of  the  king  that  was  dead,  and  is  alive,  and 
behold  He  liveth  for  evermore. 

Mothers  bring  their  little  children  to  an  earth- 
ly representative  to  be  touched  and  blest,  and 
underneath  the  apparent  transaction,  a  King  cra- 
dles them  in  everlasting  arms  and  consents  to  be 
their  refuge.  We  gather  around  the  sacred  table, 
and  one  delegated  to  feed  the  flock,  gives  to  each 
one  his  portion :  but  there  stands  there  in  the 
shadow,  the  true  Melchizedec,  without  begin- 
ning of  years  or  end  of  days,  offering  to  us  the 
bread  and  wine  of  his  crucified  humanity.  Alas  ! 
Alas !  that  men  are  taught,  that  it  is  of  a  purer 
evangel,  to  think  of  their  Lord  as  dead  or  absent 
from  His  Church  and  her  ordinances.  The  fa- 
thers have  eaten  the  sour  grapes  of  sacramental 
rationalism,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on 
edge  in  the  repudiation  of  inspiration,  of  mira- 
cle, and  of  the  supernatural  in  religion. 


The   Trite  Ideal  of  the   Church.  41 

XI.  In  nothing  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  more  di- 
verse from  other  Kingdoms  than  in  this  :  that  it  is 
a  Kingdom  of  covenant.  "Gather my  saints 
together  unto  me."  The  paralleHsm  tells  us  who 
are  the  saints.  "  Those  that  have  made  a  cove- 
nant with  me  by  sacrifice."  ^ 

The  kingdom  rests  not  on  an  unformulated 
understanding :  its  terms,  its  conditions  and  lim- 
its are  not  vague  and  uncertain.  There  is  a  cov- 
enant between  contracting  parties,  with  stipula- 
tions on  either  side,  authenticated  by  solemn 
seals  and  solemnized  by  sacrifice.  In  vain  may 
we  search  the  record  for  any  proffer  of  nobility 
in  the  New  Jerusalem,  save  to  those  who  are 
comprehended  within  the  covenant. 

The  time  would  fail  me  to  trace  out  this  cove- 
nant from  its  origin,  through  its  various  amplifica- 
tions and  ratifications,  up  to  its  present  complete- 
ness. 

See  its  essential  principles  in  a  single  instance. 
The  contracting  parties  are  Jehovah  and  the 
Father  of  the  Faithful.  The  stipulations  are,  on 
the  one  part  the  concession  of  inheritance,  on 
the  other  imphcit  trust  and  a  self- surrender 
which    kept    nothing   back.     Circumcision    be- 

1  Psalm  1.  5. 


42  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

comes  the  signature.  The  blood  of  sacrifice  con- 
fesses that  the  death-penalty  is  incurred  if  the 
compact  be  broken.  God  swears  to  Abraham, 
and  in  solemnization  of  that  oath,  amid  an  horror 
of  great  darkness,  passes,  as  a  smoking  furnace 
and  a  burning  lamp,  between  the  divided  sacri- 
fice.' 

This  and  all  other  preliminary  covenants,  cul- 
minate at  last  in  the  One  Covenant  comprehensive 
and  enduring.  We  may  find  its  essence  summed 
up  in  a  few  potential  words.  "  He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved."  The  Ineffable 
Trinity  is  the  party  of  the  first  part :  the  child 
of  Adam  is  the  party  of  the  second  part.  The 
concession  on  the  one  part  is  Life  eternal,  on  the 
other  it  is  trust,  which  is  but  another  word  for  the 
abnegation  of  all  self-will.  The  seals  are  to  be 
recognized  in  the  application  of  material  sub- 
stance by  one  sent  to  baptize,  and  in  the  accept- 
ance by  the  subject  of  the  appointed  signature. 
And  all  is  done  in  the  presence  of  a  Lamb  as  it 
had  been  slain,  testifying  at  once  to  the  worth  of 
the  life  now  covenanted  to  the  sinner,  and  to  his 
guiltiness  of  that  body  and  that  blood  should 
he,  to  whom  God  is  content  to  swear,  perjure 
1  Gen.  XV.  8,  ad  fin. 


TJie   True  Ideal  of  the  Church.  43 

himself  by  deliberate  repudiation  or  by  careless 
violation  of  the  high  engagement. 

XII.  Such  is  the  covenant  of  adoption  in  its 
briefest  statement.  And  then,  when  we  unfold 
the  deed  itself,  covering  many  a  closely-written 
page,  how  magnificent  are  its  amplifications  and 
its  iterations  ! 

On  the  human  side,  to  faith,  is  added  virtue, 
knowledge,  temperance,  patience,  godliness, 
brotherly-kindness,  charity:  yea,  all  in  chaiacter 
and  in  conduct  that  is  lovely  and  of  good  report. 
And  God's  promise,  issuing  from  that  pledge  of 
life,  flows  on,  and  as  it  flows  in  sacred  pages,  ever 
augments  its  tide :  waters  to  the  ankles,  waters 
to  the  knees,  waters  to  the  loins,  waters  to  swim 
in,  an  illimitable  ocean,  until  we  sink  prostrate 
before  the  wealth  of  the  divine  assurance.  "  All 
things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things 
present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are  yours ;  and 
ye  are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's." 

Nor  does  that  covenant  fail  to  be  often  re- 
newed. Again  and  again  we  come  to  God  to 
confirm  the  wavering  purpose,  to  profess,  in  spite 
of  failure,  an  unchanged  confidence  :  and  the  God 
of  covenant  lays  upon  us  the  hand  of  benedic- 


44  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

tion  and  certifies  us  by  a  visible  sign,  of  His  favor 
and  gracious  goodness  towards  us :  and  often  in 
the  Holy  Eucharist  extends  to  us  tokens  of  en- 
during love,  and  so  assures  us,  that  we  have  not 
ceased  to  be  very  members  incorporate  in  the 
mystical  body  of  His  Son. 

Xin.  While  we  have  thus  expounded  some 
characteristic  features  of  the  Church  of  God,  we 
have  contributed  nothing,  we  can  contribute 
nothing  toward  discovering  the  ultimate  secret 
of  its  being,  or  disclosing  the  marvel  of  its  crea- 
tion. Some  things  there  are,  which  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  a  mail  to  utter :  some  things  there  are,  fa- 
miliar to  us  in  their  manifestations,  whose  abso- 
lute being  is  enveloped  in  inscrutable  mystery. 

The  visible  Church  is  the  outcome  of  the  In- 
carnation. *' We  are  members  oi  [sh,  out  of^ 
of  the  substance  of)  his  body,  of  his  flesh  and  of 
his  bones."  '  The  words  are  plainly  borrowed 
from  Adam's  account  of  the  mother  of  all  living. 
"These  words,"  says  Hooker,  "  may  be  fitly  the 
words  of  Christ  concerning  his  Church,  flesh  of 
my  flesh  and  bone  of  my  bones,  a  true  native 
extract  out  of  mine  own  body."  ""  Nor  is  this  all: 
there  is  a  mystery,  a  great  mystery  in  the  union 

'  Ephes.  V.  30.  2  Polity  V.  Ivi.  7. 


TJie   Tme  Ideal  of  tJie   CJuircJi.  45 

that  is  betwixt  Christ  and  His  Church.  There 
is  a  half  whispered  intimation  of  a  home  forsaken 
for  the  Church's  sake,  and  a  revelation  of  the  en- 
trance into  a  union  so  intimate,  that  the  Christ 
and  the  Church  are  in  some  sense  one. 

Howcan  these  things  be?  Let  us  plant  ourselves 
upon  the  immovable  rock  of  the  Incarnation,  and 
these  mysterious  economies  of  grace  shall  cease 
to  offend  us.  For  if  in  that  original  mercy  "  two 
whole  and  perfect  natures,  that  is  to  say,  the 
Godhead  and  Manhood,  were  joined  together, 
never  to  be  divided,"  whereof  is  one  Christ ;  if, 
in  His  self-assertion  at  one  time  and  His  child- 
like dependence  at  another  :  if  in  His  claim  to  un- 
derstand all  secrets,  followed  by  a  declaration 
that  there  was  one  day  of  which  He  knew  not : 
if  in  innumerable  such  particulars,  the  divine  and 
the  human  in  the  one  Christ  so  interpenetrate 
each  other,  as  to  become  inextricably  commin- 
gled, and  to  forbid  any  line  of  absolute  demar- 
cation :  if  He,  in  devising  a  remedy  for  the 
blind  man's  eyes,  incorporated  with  the  common 
clay,  the  moisture  of  His  lips :  in  view  of  these 
things,  we  shall  not  be  scandalized  because  there 
is  in  the  administration  of  the  purchased  grace, 
that  which  can  be  neither  dissected  nor  analyzed  : 


46  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

because  in  Church  and  Sacraments,  however  we 
may  sometimes  recognize  an  element  distinctly 
spiritual,  and  an  element  as  distinctly  human, 
there  is  a  bound  where  heaven  is  so  let  down 
towards  earth,  and  earth  so  caught  up  towards 
heaven,  tliat  their  several  confines  melt  one  in- 
to another,  and  heaven  and  earth  are  one. 

Brethren,  it  may  seem  a  rash  endeavor,  to 
persuade  men  to  recognize  a  divine  ideal  of  the 
Church,  when  believers  as  well  as  unbelievers 
unite  in  esteeming  as  among  the  most  delusive 
of  dreams,  the  vision  of  a  Church,  one  and  un- 
divided, a  Kingdom  real  and  potential.  Nor  can 
I  be  indifferent  to  the  consequences  that  may  be 
imputed,  consequences  which  I  heartily  depre- 
cate, of  forgetting  that  true  circumcision  which  is 
of  thxC  heart,  and  of  failing  to  recognize  the  mind 
of  Christ,  in  some  who  accept  not  His  visible  sig- 
nature, and  even  deem  it  a  superfluity. 

I  have  feared  to  w^eaken  the  force  of  a  most 
needed  statement,  by  precipitate  mention  of  ex- 
ceptions and  explanations.  The  Church,  let  us 
think  of  her  sometimes,  as  she  was  in  the  day  of 
her  espousals :  a  helpmeet  taken  from  an  opened 
side :    fearfully    and    wonderfully    constructed : 


The   Trice  Ideal  of  the   CJiurch.  47 

breathed  upon  by  her  Creator,  and  by  that 
breath  endued  with  Hfe  and  beauty.  Christ  loved 
the  Church  and  gave  Himself  for  her  :  let  there 
be  no  stint  in  the  love  and  reverence  of  Christ's 
people,  for  the  Church,  His  bride. 


LECTURE    II. 

The  Particular  or  National  Church. 


LECTURE   II. 

THE    PARTICULAR    OR    NATIONAL    CHURCH. 

"  The  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which  thou  sawest  in  my 
right  hand,  and  the  seven  golden  candlesticks.  The  seven 
stars  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches  :  and  the  seven 
candlesticks  which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven  churches." — Rev. 
i.  20. 

'T^^HE  last  section  of  the  Holy  Gospel  tells  us 
-^  of  our  Lord's  forty  days  sojourn  with  us, 
after  He  had  made  perfect  our  redemption.  The 
Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  is  in  some 
sort  a  continuation  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
Thanks  be  to  the  God  of  mercy,  that  He  has 
been  pleased  to  give,  for  our  enlightenment,  this 
invaluable  supplement  to  the  personal  biography 
of  the  Lord  and  of  the  twelve  !  For  there  is  no 
commentary  so  reliable  upon  constitutions, 
whether  religious  or  political,  as  the  forms  in 
which  they  at  once  embodied  themselves,  and 
the  things  done  under  their  instructions  by  those 
whose  names  stand  first  on  the  roll  of  corporators. 

51 


52  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Many  a  victory  has  been  fruitless,  because 
the  victor  was  not  at  pains  to  secure  its  re- 
sult Many  a  generous  device  for  the  good 
of  men  has  failed  of  its  end  because  the  beautiful 
ideal  was  sent  forth  unclad  and  undefended, 
unfurnished  with  feet  for  travel,  and  hands  for 
apprehension.  Moral  truth,  however  enunci- 
ated, loses  its  hold  on  men,  and  escapes  into  the 
cloud-land  of  speculation,  unless  by  some  de- 
vice it  is  inwrought  into  character  and  life. 

The  divine  love  had  been  brought  down 
from  heaven  and  perfumed  all  the  air.  But  as 
we  detain  some  sweet  essence  and  preserve  it, 
and  apply  it,  by  enclosing  it  in  a  suitable  recep- 
tacle, or  by  kneading  it  into  something  of  more 
earthly  mould,  so  was  it  necessary,  if  love  was 
to  do  its  work,  that  it  should  find  a  living 
organism,  at  once  its  guardian  and  its  almoner. 
Thus  the  truth,  like  the  leaven  which  a  woman 
took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal  till  the 
whole  was  leavened,  was  committed  to  the 
Church,  to  be  incorporated  into  the  mass  of 
humanity.  The  fountain  of  life  was  opened,  and 
conduits  were  provided  to  convey  the  stream  to 
fainting  souls.  For  the  conservation  and  dis- 
semination of  the  Gospel,  the  apparatus  of  disci- 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.       53 

pline  and  administration  were  supplied  hy  its 
Author. 

II.  The  King  has  won  His  crown.  He  is 
presently  to  sit  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  become,  in  His  stead, 
the  present  Paraclete.  And  He  lingers,  when  all 
heaven  was  impatient  and  longing  for  His  return. 
He  lingers  forty  days.  We  are  left  in  no  doubt 
of  the  employment  of  those  forty  days.  The 
kingdom  is  now  definitely  organized  and  con- 
structed. Its  officers  are  finally  commissioned. 
He  is  with  the  governors  of  the  Church,  "  speak- 
ing to  them  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom of  God."  We  need  not  fear  to  affirm  that 
as  the  Eleven  shared  with  St.  Paul,  the  dignity 
of  a  personal  investiture  conferred  by  the  Chief 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls,  so  were  they  and 
he  alike,  personally  instructed  by  the  Master 
Himself,  concerning  the  Eucharist  and  all  the 
essentials  of  religious  administration. 

Presently  the  city  of  God  uprises  from  its 
foundations,  and  its  outlines  are  distinctly  visi- 
ble against  the  dark  sky  of  heathendom.  It  is  a 
city  set  on  a  hill,  and  cannot  be  hid.  It  is  no 
encampment  of  tents,  however  goodly,  where 
isolated  families  gather  around  separate  hearth- 


54  The  Church  in  the  Nation. . 

stones.     No  sign   is  there  of  different  religious 
denominations  of  Christians. 

The  kingdom  is  one,  visible  and  undivided. 
Citizenship  is  obtained  by  an  initiation  which  no 
one  disputes.  There  is  an  authority  which 
rules,  defines,  levies  contribution  and  disciplines 
offenders.  The  keys  are  held  in  open  view. 
The  doors  unlocked  at  Pentecost,  admit  the 
homeless  thousands.  Closed  against  the  inces- 
tuous person,  he  is  delivered  to  vSatan.  One 
graphic  description  makes  all  plain. 

Hffav  dk  TtpoGKaprepovvTSi  rrj  didaxij 
Tcov  anoaroXoov,  nai  rfj  hoivgov[(y,  xai  ti] 
nXaffei  rov  aproi),  iiai   raU  TtpoffsvxoiH. 

They  continued  steadfastly  in  the  Doctrine, 
the  Fellowship,  the  breaking  of  Bread,  the 
Prayers.  Pearson,  Andrewes  and  others  have 
shown  that  we  have  here  the  "  image  of  the 
Primitive  Church."  Its  four  great  bulwarks  of 
Faith  and  Fellowship,  of  Sacrament  and  Ser- 
vice, leave  no  room  for  any  theory  of  ecclesiastical 
association  resting  upon  the  basis  of  elective 
affinities. 

III.  And  here  we  turn  aside  to  meet  an  ob- 
jection. It  may  be  asked,  was  human  nature  in 
those  days,  other  than  what  it  now  is  ?     Were 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      55 

Christians  never  restive  under  authority  ?  Never 
dazzled  by  the  glory  of  one  great  name  ?  Never 
tempted  to  become  enamoured  of  a  thing  indif- 
ferent, and  on  that  ground  to  separate  themselves 
from  the  faithful  ?  Were  there  no  Legalists,  no 
Rationalists,  no  Second  Adventists,  none  who 
despised  the  mystic  grace  of  Eucharist  and  of 
Marriage  ? 

None  of  these  are  absent  The  perversions  of 
our  later  days  have  all  their  counterpart  in  that 
early  record.  But  there  is  for  them  no  toler- 
ance or  patient  recognition.  They  are  there  only 
for  rebuke  and  vehement  expostulation.  If  any 
resisted  an  Apostle's  jurisdiction  because  his  bodi- 
ly presence  was  weak  and  his  speech  contemptible, 
if  any  elected  an  individual  Apostle  of  whom  he 
would  be  a  partizan,  if  any  for  some  such  thing 
as  dread  of  idol's  meat,  should  dwell  and  eat 
apart  from  his  brethren,  if  any  explained  away 
the  verity  of  Christ's  coming  in  the  flesh,  or  made 
His  table  common,  not  discerning  the  Lord's 
body  there,  or  insulted  the  Church's  rule  of  chas- 
tity, or  troubled  God's  people  by  private  specula- 
tion touching  the  day  of  the  Lord  as  near  at 
hand  :  an  Apostle  was  ever  ready  with  his  trum- 
pet to    recall    the    stragglers  and  to  re-form  the 


$6  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

line  of  battle.  When  Ebionites,  Cerinthians,  Do- 
cetae  and  Nicolaitanes  would  foist  upon  the  one 
Faith  their  deceitful  speculations,  St.  John 
drops  for  the  timehismessagcsof  love,  shows  him- 
self in  his  old  age  the  Son  of  Thunder  still,  while 
his  warning  reverberates  through  the  Church. 
"  Look  to  yourselves  *  *  *  whosoever  trans- 
gresseth  and  abideth  not  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ, 
hath  not  God." 

IV.  There  is  a  formative  period  in  which  the 
first  commissioned  Hierarchy  reserves  to  itself  a 
universal  control:  although  thus  early,  as  in  the 
Council  of  Jerusalem,  they  summoned  elders,  and 
brethren  in  consultation,  and  furnished  to  suc- 
ceeding- ages  that  type  of  conciliar  legislation 
which,  maintaining  authority,  bars  out  tyrannical 
dominion  over  the  faithful. 

In  the  Epistles  we  see  this  government  begin- 
ning to  be  distributed  and  localized.  Titus  is 
left  in  Crete  under  Apostolic  instruction  to  "  set 
in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting,  and  to  or- 
dain elders  in  every  city,'  as  1  had  appointed thcc.'' 

To  Timothy  is  entrusted  a  delegated  authority 
at  Ephesus,  during  St.  Paul's  absence,  and  sub- 
ject to  his  revision.      "  Till  I  come, "  is  the  term 

1  Titus  i.  5- 


The  Particular  or  National  Chn7rJi.       57 

of  his  commission.  He  is  to  preach,  to  ordain 
deacons  and  elders,  to  discipline,  if  need  be, 
ministers  and  people,  and  to  guard  the  purity 
of  doctrine  and  the  proprieties  of  public 
worship.' 

Presently  we  discern  a  more  distinct  crystalliza- 
tion. The  Church  of  Jerusalem  is  under  the  ju- 
risdiction of  St.  James  the  Lord's  brother.  Tim- 
othy had  ministered  to  the  Church  of  Ephesus, 
one  might  say,  as  the  Suffragan  of  St.  Paul.  But 
now  this  Church  as  well  as  six  other  Churches  in 
Asia  Minor,  has  an  organization  of  its  own.  Re- 
sponsibility is  not  left  indefinite.  Over  each  such 
community,  Christ's  Angel-messcnger  presides. 
God  is  too  reasonable  to  hold  men  to  responsi- 
bility whom  he  has  not  clad  with  adequate  pow- 
ers. To  take  a  single  illustration,  if  the  angel  of 
the  Church  in  Pergamos  is  censured  for  tolerat- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitanes,  while  he  of 
Ephesus  is  praised  for  his  resistance,  it  is  of  ne- 
cessity that  the  officer  held  accountable  should 
be  the  accredited  authority,  competent  to 
repress  heresies.  The  use  of  the  mystic  number 
seven,  the  symbol  of  completeness,  suggests 
that     which     I     believe    is    by     none     denied, 

'  I  Tim.  iii.  14,  15  ;  iv.  13. 


58  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

that  we  are  not  to  confine  our  thought  to  the 
mere  locaHties  specified. 

The  vision  is  of  the  many  Churches  in  many 
places,  each  a  lamp  of  the  many-branched  can- 
dlestick :  and  of  many  stars,  each  the  conspicu- 
ous representative  of  the  individual  Church.  The 
Son  of  man,  the  One  True  Light,  is  ///  the  midst 
of  the  candlesticks  which  borrow  from  Him  their 
lustre.  He  walkcth  in  their  midst,  as  the  Priest 
in  the  temple  lighted  and  watched  and  fed  the 
lamps.  He  holdcth  the  stars  in  His  rigJit  hand, 
because  all  hierarchies  are  efficient  so  long  only 
as  He  sustains  them. 

Thus,  according  to  the  date  commonly  assign- 
ed to  the  Apocalypse,  in  the  year  96,  local 
Churches  are  organized  under  responsible  gover- 
nors. From  this  point  it  is  but  a  little  way  to  the 
familiar  constitution  of  the  Church  of  the  Ante- 
Nicene  century ;  and  we  approach  the  subject  of 
this  Lecture,  the  Autonomy  of  the  Particular  or 
National  Church. 

V.  But  here  all  discussion  is  simply  nugatory, 
if  either  of  the  two  ecclesiastical  theories  with 
which  we  of  this  Church  are  chiefly  at  issue, 
can  be  successfully  maintained.  According  to 
the  former  of  these  theories,  "  During  a  great 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      59 

part  of  this  (the  second)  century,  all  the  Churches 
continued  to  be,  as  at  first,  independent  of  each 
other  ;  or  were  connected  by  no  consociations  or 
confederations.  Each  Church  wa^  a  kind  of 
small  independent  republic,  governing  itself  by 
its  own  laws,  enacted,  or  at  least  sanctioned  by 
the  people." 

"  The  form  of  the  ecclesiastical  constitution 
and  government  which  had  been  introduced 
(/.  e.  in  the  second  century)  was  more  and  more 
confirmed  (/.  e.  in  the  third  century).  *  *  * 
A  person  bearing  the  title  of  bishop  presided 
over  each  Church  in  the  larger  cities,  and  man- 
aged its  affairs  with  some  degree  of  authority." 

But  this,  Mosheim  affirms,  was  an  innovation. 
It  was  after  another  sort  that  "Christians  man- 
aged ecclesiastical  affairs  so  long  as  their  congre- 
gations were  small.  *  *  Three  or  four  Presby- 
ters, men  of  gravity  and  holiness,  placed  over 
these  little  societies,  could  easily  proceed  with 
harmony,  and  needed  no  head  or  president. 
But  when  the  Churches  became  larger  *  *  *  it 
became  necessary  that  the  Council  of  presbyters 
should  have  a  president.  He  was  at  first  denom- 
inated the  angel,  but  afterwards  the  bishop,       ^ 

*     It  would  seem  that  the  Church  of  Jerusalem 


6o  The   Church  in  the  Nation. 

*  *  *  was  the  first  to  elect  such  a  president, 
and  that  other  Churches,  in  process  of  time,  fol- 
lowed the  example."  ' 

I  refer  you  elsewhere  for  the  abundant 
refutation  of  an  hypothesis,  for  the  support  of 
which  the  professional  historian  cites  not  one 
authority,  unless  perchance  an  obiter  dictiini  of 
the  hasty  Jerome,  an  inference  of  his  own  from 
a  fact  in  nomenclature  which  no  one  denies,  may 
be  considered  a  testimony. 

And  while  I  may  not  suffer  to  pass  without 
mention,  neither  do  I  propose  to  discuss  form- 
ally, the  theory  that  the  plenitude  of  authority 
and  the  assurance  of  indefectibility  inhere  in  the 
person  of  a  single  Bishop.  It  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  early  Church  knew  her  name 
when  she  graved  incisively  upon  her  Creeds  and 
over  the  portals  of  her  temples  the  title,  "  One, 
Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church."  They  are 
modern  hands  that  have  inserted  a  caret,  and  in  a 
later  Creed  even  erased  the  familiar  characters. 
So  that  the  title  of  eminent  dignity,  has  now  be- 
come "  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  mother  and 
mistress    of   all    churches."      How    utterly    this 

1  Mosheim,  Book  I.  Cent.  i.  Part  ii.  Ch.  ii. 
ii.  Ch.  ii.  §  2.     Cent.  iii.  Part  ii.  Ch.  ii.  §  i, 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      6i 

theory  enslaves  the  churches  of  the  saints,  may- 
appear  from  the  words  of  De  Maistre  :  "  /  think 
it  useless  to  dwell  on  these  foolish  details.  It  is 
more  worth  luhile  to  establish  zuithont  delay  the 
decisive  and  immovable pi'oposition  that  THERE 
ARE  NO  LIBERTIES  OF  THE  GALLICAN  CHURCH  : 
and  that  all  that  is  concealed  beneath  this  fine 
name,  is  only  a  conspiracy  of  the  temporal  pozucr, 
to  despoil  the  Holy  See  of  its  legitimate  rights."  ^ 
Bishop  Andrewes  has  succinctly  presented  the 
nature  of  our  contention.  "  Quarrel  with  us,  if 
you  will,  over  the  name  of  Orthodox  ;  of  Catho- 
lic you  cannot.  Of  that,  both  the  thing  and  the 
word,  we  believe  as  do  you  :  even  better  than 
you.  For  you  yourselves  dropped  the  name  of 
Catholic,  when  of  late,  you  unhappily  added 
Roman  to  it :  and  reduced  Catholic  (/.  c.  of  the 
whole  world)  to  Roman  {i.  e.  of  one  city)  : 
Catholic,  which  is  diffused  in  all  the  world,  and 
Roman,  which  is  only  one  city  of  the  world. 
Roman  Catholic  is  a  new  word  ;  as  much  as  to 
say  Catholic  and  not  Catholic.  Roman  is  jcard 
TtoXsoo^,  Catholic.  uaO^  6\ov.  So  that  now  (if  I 
may  so  say,  and  the  nature  of  the  word  allows), 

'  De  I'Elise  Gallicane,  Livre  ii.   Chap.   xiv.     The   capitals 
are  his  own. 


62  TJic  CJiurch  in  the  Nation. 

you  are  rather  to  be  called  CathopoHcs  than  Ca- 
tholics. *  •»  *  *  Belong  ye  then  to  your 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  a  thing  not  found  in 
the  Creed,  and  we,  to  that  in  which  we  believe, 
a  Church  which  is  simply  Catholic,  not  restricted 
to  Rome,  but  such  as  we  possess  in  the  Creed — 
a  Church  which  is  orthodox,  which  does  not 
bow  down  to  or  worship  any  image ;  which 
does  not  worship  it  knows  not  what;  which 
prays  in  the  spirit  and  prays  with  the  under- 
standing likewise  ;  which  does  not  call  on  them 
on  whom  it  believes  not ;  in  which  Christ  is  the 
Head  of  the  Faith,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  His 
Vicar ;  to  this  we  belong  and  profess  to  be- 
long ;  and  you,  since  you  have  many  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Faith  still  remaining 
among  you,  though  in  part  corrupted,  we  are 
able  to  call  members  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
but  not  sound  members."  '  I  waive  then, 
these  controversies.  Congregational  and  Papal. 
Our  champions  have  met  the  argument,  Scrip- 
tural, Patristic,  Historical,  with  such  learning  and 
ability,  as  to  exhaust  the  subject.  We  ask  you 
now,  to  take  a  broad  survey  of  the  Church  as 

>  Translated    (the  latter  part  by  Rev.  F,  Merrick)  from  Tor- 
tura  Torti.     Parker,  p.  494-5- 


The  Particular  or  National  ChurcJi.      63 

she  appeared  when  she  had  adjusted  her  econo- 
mies and  become  rooted  in  the  soil. 

VI.  We  see  unity  reconciled  with  diversity. 
We  behold  a  great  company  in  all  the  world,  in 
a  union  most  intimate,  wherein  each  baptized 
man  was  home-born ;  and  there  are  also  local 
Churches,  exercising  jurisdiction  within  narrower 
limits,  and  holding  more  familiar  correspondence 
with  those  which  lie  adjacent.  The  unity  of  a 
living  organism  is  not  the  unity  of  a  stone.  It 
does  not  imply  absolute  identity  of  structure,  or 
even  an  absence  of  all  differentiation  of  mem- 
bers. The  truest  unity  is  that  wherein  many 
members  can  be  discriminated  in  their  severalty, 
while  knit  together  in  one  visible  body,  acting 
in  concert  and  to  a  common  end.  "  Pbirality 
which  docs  not  rcdnce  itself  to  nnity,  is  confusion  : 
unity  zvhich  does  not  depend  npoii  plnrality  is 
tyranny  y^  The  unity  of  the  Godhead  is  not 
marred  but  manifested  by  the  revelation  of  a 
three-fold  personality.  The  unity  of  the  Episco- 
pate is  not  impaired,  because,  according  to 
Cyprian's  maxim,  there  is  but  "  one  bishopric, 
and  an  undivided  share  thereof  is  perfectly  and 
wholly  holden  of  every  particular  bishop." 
'  Pascal,  Pensees,  part  ii.  art.  xvii,  ci. 


64  The  Cluu'cJi  in  the  Nation. 

When  our  Lord  fed  the  five  thousand.  He 
afforded  us  a  parable  of  the  economical  arrange- 
ments which  were  to  prevail  in  the  Church. 
There  was  no  confusion  or  disorder.  He  made 
the  men  sit  down  in  numbered  companies; 
■npaaiai  npaffuxi,  i.  e.  as  it  were,  Areolatim,  in 
"  square  garden  plots,"  as  Trench  explains  it, 
after  Theophylact,  *  so  that  ministering  apostles 
might  without  jostling  one  against  another,  make 
equable  distribution  of  the  divine  bounty.  Even 
without  such  precedent,  the  Church  may  find  in 
the  canon  "  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and 
in  order,"  ample  authority  for  prudential  distri- 
bution of  her  ministries  of  grace.  The  necessi- 
ties of  the  case,  and  the  teachings  of  common 
sense  as  well,  caused  these  lines  of  demarcation 
to  be  drawn  with  reference  to  geographical  and 
national  boundaries,  and  to  respect  affinities  of 
race  and  language.  Some  of  these  arrangements 
were  in  their  nature  temporary,  as  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  missionary  work,  for  instance,  between 
the  two  great  missionary  Apostles.  Others  were 
as  permanent  as  the  conditions  out  of  which 
they  took  their  rise. 

Vn.  The  fathers  of  Nicaea  decreed,  "  Let 
•  On  Miracles,  xvi. 


TJie  Particular  or  National  CJmrcJi.      65 

the  ancient  customs  prevail  which  are  in  Egypt, 
Libya  and  Pentapolis,  according  to  which  the 
Bishop  of  Alexandria  has  authority  over  all  these 
places.  For  this  also  is  customary  with  the 
Bishop  of  Rome."  The  Council  of  Constantino- 
ple further  ordained  "  the  Bishop  of  Constanti- 
nople shall  have  the  primacy  of  honor  after  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  because  Constantinople  is  new 
Rome."  '  Two  things  impress  us  in  these  de- 
crees ;  one  is,  that  the  crystallization  of  a  Church, 
diffused  around  certain  centres  and  within  defi- 
nite limits,  becomes  matter  of  prescription,  and 
is  not  to  be  wantonly  disturbed.  And  another 
very  far-reaching  principle  is  to  be  found  by  im- 
plication, in  the  explanation  "  Constantinople  is 
near  Rome,  "  viz.,  that  it  behooves  the  Church, 
saving  her  spiritual  independence,  to  adapt  her- 
self in  the  details  of  administration  to  the  civil 
facts  of  the  age  in  which  she  lives. 

While  we  contend  for  the  divine  authority  of 
the  Church,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  State  is 
also  commissioned  from  on  high ;  that  there  are 
set  up  in  the  world  two  jurisdictions,  concurrent, 
and  not  necessarily  conflicting. 

The  form  of  the  Civil  Constitution  is  not  pre- 
'  Hammond  on  Canons  (Stanford  &  Swords),  pp.  34  and  65. 
5 


66  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

scribed  in  the  revelation  from  God.  Just  as  the 
Hebrew  poetry,  dependent  on  paralleHsm  of 
thought  rather  than  on  the  rhythm  of  sentences  or 
the  accord  of  syllables,  preserves  its  beauty  and 
majesty,  into  whatsoever  language  it  be  translated, 
so  do  the  twin  commandments,  which  summarize 
the  Christian  law,  utter  the  same  tones,  even  and 
undisturbed,  under  all  the  various  types  of  civil 
rule,  and  regardless  of  the  personal  qualities  of 
the  ruler,  from  Nero,  the  absolute  monarch,  down 
to  Victoria  the  constitutional  Queen  ;  and  still 
down  the  scale,  to  the  well-ordered  republic,  and 
the  loose  democracy.  Civil  rulers,  in  their 
sphere,  no  less  than  Priests  and  Bishops  in  theirs, 
are  representative  of  God.  We  are  admonished, 
as  it  were  in  one  breath,  "  Fear  God,  honor  the 
king."  The  king,  by  what  ever  name  we  call  him, 
is  "  supreme,"  a  power  "  ordained  of  God."  He 
is  God's  minister,  entrusted  with  a  sword,  dele- 
gated to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth 
evil.  Such  statements  do  indeed  sound  as  an 
anachronism  in  our  ears.  But  for  all  that,  I  am 
bold  to  claim,  that  among  the  incidental  pur- 
poses of  our  blessed  religion,  it  was  largely  in- 
tended to  strengthen  by  its  sanction  the  civil  rule 
and  so  to  guard  society   against    rash    changes ; 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      6"/ 

that  loyalty  to  the  State  enters  largely  into  the 
practical  duties  of  the  Christian  life,  and  that  def- 
erence to  its  order,  is  a  duty  binding  on  the 
Church. 

The  Church  and  the  State  move  in  their  seve- 
ral orbits,  each  in  its  own  plane.  These  planes 
may  be  parallel,  yet  even  thus,  there  is  an  influ- 
ence of  attraction  or  repulsion,  an  interchange 
of  sympathies  and  influences,  which  forbid  either 
to  say  to  the  other,  I  have  no  need  of  thee.  And 
because  in  origin  and  in  purpose,  they  have  much 
in  common,  the  one  will  at  times,  without  re- 
buke, invade  the  province  of  the  other,  and 
friendly  alliance  grow  up  between  co-ordinate 
powers.  Thus  has  the  Church  been  the  bulwark 
of  the  throne,  while  Kings  have  been  the  nursing 
fathers,  and  Queens  the  nursing  mothers  of  the 
Church. 

The  Bible  student  cannot  fail  to  note  the  stress 
that  is  laid  in  the  prophetic  page,  upon  the  four 
great  dynasties  who  wielded  by  turns  the  sceptre 
of  the  world,  and  their  intimate  association  with 
the  march  of  the  redemptive  plan.  He  recognizes 
the  fitness  of  the  times  for  the  advent  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  when  for  a  little  space  the  earth 
was  quiet  and  at  rest,  and  the  sceptre  of  univer- 


68  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

sal  empire  was  held  in  the  constraining  grasp  of 
Rome. 

It  was  no  more  than  a  recognition  of  these 
providences,  it  was  no  more  than  a  fitting  regard 
to  expediences  and  to  the  just  rights  of  accredi- 
ted authority,  that  in  things  discretionary  and 
mutable,  the  Churchy  should  have  regard  to  ex- 
isting institutions,  and  adapt  her  arrangements 
with  reference  to  them. 

VIII.  Thus  is  it  that  we  discern  at  last  a  set- 
tled order,  which  I  need  not  set  forth  in  detail. 
Over  the  Parish,  the  equivalent  of  the  modern 
Diocese,  is  the  Bishop,  who  holds  his  jurisdiction 
by  immediate  derivation  from  Christ.  In  the 
grouping  of  Parishes  into  Dioceses  and  of  Dio- 
ceses into  Patriarchates,  and  in  the  distribution 
of  appeals  and  of  dignities  consequent  thereon, 
we  find  a  general  conformity,  although  not  abso- 
lutely invariable,  to  the  political  configuration  of 
the  Empire. 

Following  the  language  of  Article  xxxiv.  we 
have  spoken  of  the  autonomy  of  the  "  Particular 
or  National  Church,"  These  two  descriptions, 
however  agreeing  in  substance,  vary  in  suitable- 
ness at  different  times.  Under  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, nationalities,  in  the  political  sense,  were  ob- 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      69 


literated,  so  that  the  Catholic  body  might  also 
be  deemed  one  National  or  Imperial  Church, 
Yet  even  then,  the  Particular  Church  of  peoples 
speaking  the  same  language  and  dwelling  within 
naturally-defined  limits,  asserted  the  right  to 
manage   her  own  affairs. 

The  transition  is  easy  and  natural  to  National 
Churches,  as  we  know  them  now,  under  their 
own  Bishops  and  Metropolitans,  exercising  their 
own  discipline,  establishing  their  own  ceremo- 
nies, but  always  with  deference  to  the  ancient 
canons  and  the  Catholic  traditions.  After  quot- 
ing the  Constantinopolitan  Canons,  tlie  R"ev.  F. 
Meyrick,  says :  "  We  m.ay  see  in  them,  as  in  a 
mirror,  the  whole  constitution  of  the  Church  at 
the  time  of  the  Council  of  Constantinople.  We 
must  again  remind  our  readers  that  in  reading 
of  a  *  Diocese,'  they  must  put  out  of  their 
thoughts  what  is  now  called  by  that  name,  but 
was  then  denominated  a  Parish,  and  they  must 
recollect  that  something  is  meant,  very  little  if 
at  all,  different  from  a  National  Church.  That 
which  was  presided  over  by  a  Bishop  was  called 
napoinia,  or  Parish ;  that  which  was  pre- 
sided over  by  a  Metropolitan  was  called  an 
inapxioc,  or  Province,   and   consisted   of  many 


70  TJic  CJiurcJi  in  the  Nation. 

napoiKiai ;  that  which  was  presided  over  by  a 
Patriarch,  Exarch,  or  Primate  (according  as  he 
had  one  or  other  of  these  three  names)  was  called 
a  Diocese.  Now,  this  word  Diocese  is  not  orig- 
inally an  ecclesiastical  term :  it  is  the  name  of  a 
civil  division  of  the  Empire,  constituted  by  seve- 
ral provinces,  and  ruled  by  a  praefect.  There  was 
then  established  in  each  of  these  Dioceses  a 
Church  containing  a  hierarchy,  in  which  we  may 
mark  three  steps — the  lowest,  the  Bishops,  whose 
jurisdiction  was  confined  to  their  Ttapondai  ,• 
the  next,  the  Metropolitans  (two,  three,  or  more 
in  number,  according  as  the  Diocese  was  larger 
or  smaller),  each  of  whom  had  jurisdiction  over 
a  province  ;  and,  lastly,  a  Primate,  who  had  jur- 
isdiction over  the  whole  Church  of  the  Diocese. 
There  is  nothing  more  clearly  brought  out  by  the 
ancient  canons  than  that  each  of  these  Churches 
was  a  distinct  and  independent  whole  in  itself, 
bound,  it  is  true,  to  the  other  sister  Churches  by 
the  tie  of  love  and  the  bond  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
uniting  them  all  to  their  one  Head  and  to  one  an- 
other, but  absolutely  free  from  all  authoritative 
control,  exercised  by  any  Bishops  whatever,  with- 
out the  limits  of  that  Church  or  Diocese.  At  the 
time  of  the  Second  Council,  the  world  was  divided 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.      yi 

into  thirteen  such  Dioceses,  besides  the  city  and 
neighborhood  of  Rome,  which  constitued  one  Di- 
ocese by  themselves  ;  five  of  them  are  referred  to 
in  the  above  quoted  canons,  viz.,  Egypt,  the  East 
(/.  e.  the  parts  about  Antioch),  Asia,  Pontus, 
Thrace.  The  eight  others  are — Italy,  Macedonia, 
Dacia,  Ulyria,  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain.  As 
then  there  were  fourteen  Dioceses,  the  theory  of 
the  Church  was,  that  there  should  be  fourteen 
Diocesan  Churches ;  and  this  theory  was  carried 
out,  except  so  far  as  it  was  prevented  from  taking 
effect  by  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  these  Dioceses 
not  having  been  Christianized.  It  is  of  these  Di- 
oceses that  the  Canon  speaks:  "  Bishops  who  are 
outside  a  Diocese  must  not  invade  the  Churches 
which  are  across  the  borders,  nor  bring  confusion 
into  the  Churches.'  "  ' 

IX.  It  cannot  be  that  the  word  eOvo?,  of  so 
distinctive  meaning,  was  used,  without  a  purpose, 
by  our  Lord  as  the  initial  and  as  the  ending  of 
His  Kingdom.  Teach  all  the  nations :  so  reads 
our  commission.  Before  Him  shall  be  gathered 
all  the  nations  :  such  is  the  array  of  the   Last 

1  Meyrick's  Exam,  of  the  Rev.  R.  I.  Wilberforce's  charges 
against  the  Church  of  England,  p.  74-5. 


72  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Judgment.'  These  intimations  unite  with  the 
intrinsic  reasonableness,  to  vindicate  the  wisdom 
of  the  Church,  in  plotting  out  her  demesnes, 
with  reference  to  race,  language,  nationality. 

Shall  I  ask  forgiveness  for  occupying  your 
time  with  a  historic  outline  so  very  familiar  to 
Churchmen,  and  in  which  many  of  my  hearers, 
as  I  am  glad  to  know,  have  been  most  thorough- 
ly indoctrinated  in  the  class-room  ?  It  is  just 
this  thing  which  men  know  so  well,  that  they 
clean  forget  or  absolutely  ignore.  It  is  by  the 
utter  neglect  of  these  authoritative  precedents, 
that  within  our  day,  some  have  been  found  to 
claim  autonomy  for  the  diocese,  and  to  see  in 
the  Church  of  the  United  States,  no  more  than  an 
association  of  dioceses,  with  limited  powers, 
dissolvable  at  pleasure.  It  is  due  to  the  same 
cause,  that  serious  proposals  have  been  made 
to  secure  Christian  unity  in  the  land,  by  im- 
parting to  the  great  religious  bodies  a  due  minis- 
terial succession,  under  such  concordat  as  may 
be  needed  to  guard  the  essential  faith,  leaving 
them  thereafter  as  separate  as  before. 

The  separation  inaugurated  by  the  sometime 
Assistant-Bishop  of  Kentucky,  and  others,  may 
'  zdvra  rd  eOvr/.     Matt.  xxv.  32  :  xxviii.  19. 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.       73 

well  teach  us  the  lesson  that  it  is  schism  to  in- 
vade the  unity  of  the  authoritative  Church  in 
any  nation,  or  to  set  at  naught  her  discipline ; 
and  that  this  schism  is  in  nowise  palliated,  even  if 
a  Bishop  technically  competent  to  convey,  and 
a  Priest  competent  to  receive  Episcopal  orders, 
should  endeavor  to  secure  for  a  new  sect,  the 
help  of  a  personal  succession  from  the  Apostles. 
X.  The  powers  exercised  by  the  National 
Churches  in  primitive  times,  as  in  later  centuries, 
were  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  We  need  on- 
ly mention  such  names  as  Gangra,  Antioch, 
Carthage  and  the  like,  to  remind  ourselves  that 
non-oecumenical  Synods  grappled  with  the 
gravest  questions  of  Faith  and  Doctrine,  of  Or- 
der and  Discipline.  ^  We  do  not  pretend  that 
the  Divine  Ideal  of  the  Church  has  never 
been  tampered  with,  or  that  confusion  has  not 
invaded  the  Kingdom  of  Him  who  is  the  Au- 
thor of  order.  But  certain  it  is  that  the  Church 
of  history  lies  before  us  in  an  orderly  array  of 
companies,  distinguished  but  not  separated  by 
lines  of  national  demarcation.  The  indepen- 
dence of  National  Churches  in  all  matters  of  lo- 
cal jurisdiction,    in  canon  law,    in  liturgies  and 

•  See  note  at  the  end  of  this  Lecture. 


74  'i^is  Church  in  the  Nation. 

usages,  is  too  well  known  to  need  setting  forth 
at  large.  This  independence  is  not  forfeited  by 
the  submission,  whether  cowardly  or  enforced, 
for  years  or  for  centuries,  to  any  usurped  author- 
ity. David  was  God's  Anointed,  however  he  was 
sometimes  sinning,  sometimes  fugitive,  some- 
times yielding  under  protest  to  the  exaction  of 
the  sons  of  Zeruiah, 

"The  river  Rosny,  when  it  entereth  into  the 
Lake  of  Lozanna,  thou  thinkest  it  quite  devour- 
ed, but  that  lively  and  running  water  cutteth  and 
divideth  that  dead  and  standing  pool,  making  way 
through  her  swallowing  depths.  Our  Church 
in  like  manner  hath  made  her  way  through 
many  ages,  hath  run  into  the  lake,  yet  not  over- 
whelmed, but  hath  past  through  the  bottomless 
gulphs  thereof  with  glory  and  triumph  ;  and 
many  rivers  meeting  her,  she  passeth  through 
many  countries,  and  at  the  last  falls  into  her 
ocean,  the  Church  of  Christ  in  God,  the  bottom- 
less sea  of  all  goodness,  and  there  is  drowned, 
losing  herself  to  find  herself  in  Him."  ' 

That  the  Church  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to 
Popes  and  to  Princes,  none  may  deny.     Casau- 

1  Mournay,  Count  de  Plessis,  as  quoted  by  Burnett  on  Art. 
xix.     (Appleton,  p.  250.) 


TJic  Particular  or  National  Church.      75 

bon  pauses  in  his  controversy  to  make  excuse : 
"  Be  it  granted  that  Popes  JuHus  and  Innocent 
transgressed  the  bounds  of  their  lawful  power, 
usurped  a  right  over  their  brethren  till  then  nev- 
er made  use  of,  and  that  (you  may  add  if  you 
please)  a  right  which  was  not  lawful ;  yet  were 
they  not  without  reason  for  what  they  did;  when 
such  was  the  condition  of  the  time,  that  as  phy- 
sicians speak,  desperate  remedies  were  to  be  ap- 
plied to  desperate  diseases  "  ^ 

Remembering  the  infirmity  which  belongs  to 
all  human  administrations,  little  marvel  is  it,  that 
in  days  of  trial  and  poverty  the  Church  should 
invoke  the  fostering  care  of  Princes  and  tolerate 
their  intrusion  into  things  spiritual :  or  that  in 
centuries  of  darkriess  and  violence,  she  should  in- 
voke against  rude  barons  and  avaricious  tyrants, 
the  influence  and  prestige  which  attached  to  the 
world's  imperial  city,  and  to  the  see  which  held 
by  universal  concession  the  primacy  of  dignity. 
The  benefactor  of  yesterday  becomes  often  the 
oppressor  of  to-day.  Pope  and  Prince  have 
sometimes  agreed  together  to  reduce  to  vassalage 
the  free  Church  of  a  nation. 

XI.   Of  the   National   Churches,  those  which 

'  Anglo-Cath.  Lil)r.  Vol.  iii.  p.  225. 


j6  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

have  been  most  strenuous  in  asserting  their 
autonomy  are  the  Anghcan  and  the  GalHcan. 
Touching  the  former,  I  may  barely  refer  you 
to  a  vast  array  of  apologists,  men  of  wisdom  and 
profound  learning,  from  Jewell,  down  to  the 
Lecturer  on  this  foundation  for  1881,  indicating 
the  self-assertion  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  history  of  the  Gallican  Church  is  not  less 
instructive.  There  is  a  mine  of  wealth  in  it, 
which  few  of  us  have  the  opportunity  to  explore. 
Of  her  rulers,  Casaubon  wrote,  nearly  three  hun- 
dred years  ago:  "It  is  their  peculiar  praise  (I 
say  it  without  flattery)  that  with  an  heroic  piety 
and  religious  generosity  they  have,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  preserved  the  Christian  liberty 
of  their  Church,  if  not  wholly  untouched,  yet 
firm  and  unshaken  to  this  day.  Who  that  dwells 
even  in  the  most  remote  regions,  and  has  re- 
ceived but  the  slightest  account  of  the  affairs  of 
France,  has  not  heard  something  of  the  liberties 
of  the  Gallican  Church  ?  So  in  the  language  of 
the  law  are  the  rights  of  ecclesiastical  liberty 
called  ;  which  though  they  were  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  universal  Church  (for  they  have  all 
one  and  the  same  author  and  founder,  Jesus 
Christ),  yet  by  a  certain  fate  it  has  happened  that 


The  Partiadar  or  National  CJuirch.      yj 

in  all  the  noblest  kingdoms  of  Europe  the 
Churches  have  suffered  their  rights  and  Hberties 
to  be  taken  from  them  ;  whence  it  has  come  to 
pass,  that  while  the  neighboring  people  groan 
under  their  servitude,  the  name  of  the  liberties 
of  the  Galilean  Church  has  been  celebrated  with 
great  fame,  even  among  far   distant  nations.'  " 

A  rapid  glance  at  some  of  the  more  notable  in- 
cidents of  this  history  will  serve  to  illustrate  the 
audacity  of  the  Pope,  the  tyranny  of  the  State, 
the  unnatural  coalition  of  them  both,  to  humili- 
ate a  glorious  Church. 

In  the  year  1302  Boniface  VIII.  promulgated 
the  Bull  tuiain  sajictam.  Archbishop  Kenrick, 
while  he  affirms  that  this  bull  is  "  repudiated  by 
all,  not  excepting  the  most  ardent  advocates  of 
papal  infallibility,"  says  that  "  for  four  whole 
centuries  it  seems  to  have  been  in  force,  and 
was  said  even  by  the  most  learned  theologians 
of  the  seventeenth  century  to  be  matter  of 
faith.  ^'  *  No  man  can  deny  that  the  pur- 
pose of  Boniface  in  that  bull  was  to  claim  for 
himself  temporal  power,  and  to  propound  this 
opinion  to  the  faithful,  to  be  held  under  pain  of 

>  Anglo-Cath.  Libr.  vol,  iii.  p.  116. 


78  TJie  CJiurch  in  the  Nation. 

damnation."  '  But  after  nearly  four  centuries  of 
submission,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1682,  the 
Hierarchy  and  Faculties  of  France  agree  with 
singular  unanimity  in  setting  forth  that  famous 
Declaration  which,  while  it  professes  to  guard 
the  majesty  of  the  Holy  See  and  the  obedience 
due  to  it,  defends  the  prerogatives  of  the 
National  Church.  It  denies  any  papal  authority 
in  things  civil  and  temporal.  It  denies  that 
kings  can  be  deposed  or  subjects  absolved  from 
allegiance  by  the  power  of  the  keys.  It  denies 
that  the  judgment  of  the  Chief  Pontiff  is  irre- 
formable,  unless  confirmed  by  the  assent  of  the 
whole  Church.  It  affirms  that  the  Pope  himself 
is  restrained  by  canons  made  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  and  consecrated  by  the  reverence  of  all  the 
world  ;  and  that  he  is  further  restrained  from 
interference  with  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
French  Church  :  valcre  ctiam  regulas,  mores  et 
institiita  a  Regno  et  Ecelesia  Gallicana  rcccptos, 
Patrnmgne  terminos  ma7iere  inconcnssos.'' 

Thus  there  was  inaugurated  the  struggle  be- 

'  Freidrich,     Documenta   ad  illustrandum,   Cone.    Vatica- 
num,  Part  I.  p.  204. 

2  For  original  see  Bossnet's  Defensio  vol.    i,    p.    xlv.     It   is 
translated  in  Jervis'  Church  of  France,  (Murray)  vol.  ii.   p.  49 


TJie  Particidar  or  National  Church.      79 

tvveen  Gallicans  and  Ultramontanes,  made 
memorable  by  the  names  of  Bossuet  and  Bellar- 
mine,  of  the  Jansenists  and  the  Port-Royalists. 
We  proceed  a  century.  The  year  1789  finds 
Louis  XVI.  seated  on  a  tottering  throne.  The 
National  Convention  seeks  to  reconstruct  the 
social  fabric  upon  principles  which  led  presently 
to  the  national  apostasy  and  the  enthronement 
of  the  Goddess  of  Reason  in  1793.  Among  its 
early  measures  is  the  enactment  of  a  civil  con- 
stitution of  the  clergy.  The  critical  question 
was  indeed  concerning  the  supremacy  of  the 
Holy  See.  But  more  than  this,  the  Civil  power 
proposed  to  legislate  absolutely  for  the  Spiritual, 
to  confiscate  its  wealth,  to  obliterate  its  dioceses, 
suppressing  fifty  sees  at  once  ;  to  order  its  disci- 
pline, to  make  of  its  Bishops  mere  creatures  and 
servants  of  the  State.  And  when  the  oath  to 
support  this  constitution  was  enforced,  a  great 
rift  was  made  in  the  Galilean  Church  between 
the  constitutional  Bishops  and  Clergy  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  Non-jurors  on  the  other. 

The  story  now  becomes  one  of  moral  sublimity. 
Of  the  Sorbonne,  thirty  only,  out  of  eighteen 
hundred,  take  the  oath.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-five    Bishops  prefer   to  surrender   their 


86  The  ChuTch  in  the  Nation. 

sees.  Driven  into  exile,  suffering  and  poverty- 
stricken,  their  resolution  is  undaunted.  The 
hospitality  of  England  rose  with  the  demand 
upon  it.  We  read  of  one  national  collection 
made  for  their  benefit,  amounting  to  ;^40,ooo. 
Bishop  Horsley,  preaching  before  the  House  of 
Lords,  pays  tribute  to  "  the  venerable  exiles,  the 
prelates  and  clergy  of  the  fallen  Church  of 
France,  endeared  to  us  by  the  edifying  example 
they  exhibit,  of  patient  suffering  for  conscience' 
sake." 

And  how  were  these  men  rewarded  by  the 
Primate  to  whom  they  had  given  unswerving 
allegiance  at  a  cost  so  great  ? 

The  Empire  is  developing  in  France  cut  of 
the  ruins  of  the  Revolution.  The  First  Consul 
desires  the  glory  of  restoring  to  France  the 
Church,  so  dear  to  faithful  hearts,  while  yet  he 
proposes  so  to  restore  it,  that  it  shall  not  be  a 
co-ordinate  power,  but  a  vassal  to  his  absolute 
will.  He  demands  that  the  Bishops,  one  and 
all,  shall  resign  their  sees,  and  leave  the  field 
open  for  a  radical  re-arrangement. 

And  thus  in  1801,  the  Pope,  by  the  brief  "  Tarn 
multa  et  tam  prseclara,"  pleading  the  pres- 
*»ure  of  necessity,  demands  of  these  non-juring 


The  Particular  or  National  Church.       8 1 

martyrs  that  they  shall  resign  their  sees  within 
ten  days.  And  when  those  grand  old  men  re- 
fuse, Pius  VII.  by  the  bull  "  Qui  Christi  Domini 
vices,"  suppressed,  annulled  and  forever  extin- 
guished all  the  French  sees  in  existence,  and 
founded  new  sees  in  accordance  with  the  con- 
cordat made  with  the  First  Consul.^ 

Thus  mournfully  opened  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury upon  her  whom  we  are  proud  to  own  in  her 
adversity  as  a  Sister-Church.  And  later  events 
have  been  equally  calamitous. 

XII.  In  the  Vatican  Council,  the  French 
Bishops,  in  common  with  the  overseers  of  other 
Churches  who  had  preserved  a  certain  measure 
of  autonomy,  find  the  true  hierarchy  confronted 
by  an  irresistible  majority  of  Cardinals,  mitred 
Abbots  and  Generals  of  Orders,  Titular  Bishops 
and  Italians.  The  protests  of  Darboy  and 
Dupanloup  are  as  little  heeded  as  those  of  Ken- 
rick  and  Strossmayer.  Pius  VII  suppressed  sees  : 
Pius  IX  suppresses  the  Episcopate  itself,  and  for- 
ces the  Bishops  on  bended  knees  to  disown  all 
right  of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  save  by  derivation 
from  himself. 

'  This  strange  story  is  rehearsed  at  length  in  Jervis'  Gallican 
Church  and  the  Revolution  (Regan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co.,  1882). 

6 


82  Tlic  Church  in  the  Nation. 

And  even  to-day,  around  the  ancient  Church 
of  France,  reft  of  her  powers  and  degraded  into 
vassalage,  are  rallying  the  so-called  statesmen 
eager  to  destroy  her.  It  is  with  lively  sympa- 
thy that  we  hear  of  Seminaries  without  students 
for  the  Priesthood,  of  Churches  unsupplied  with 
ministrations,  of  industrious  cures  living  on  the 
wages  of  a  day-laborer,  of  religious  emblems 
banished  out  of  sight,  and  even  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity driven  ignominiously  from  their  places  by 
the  sick  and  the  dying. 

Unhappy  Church  of  France,  whose  once  Bish- 
op of  Autun  led  the  way  in  despoiling  her, 
whose  acknowledged  Ruler  has  passed  by  on  the 
other  side  in  her  extremity,  and  in  the  revival  of 
prosperity  confiscated  all  her  dignities  for  his 
own  adornment.  Poets,  Philosophers,  Doctri- 
naires and  Atheists,  Revolutionists,  Imperialists, 
Republicans,  and  at  last  Curia  and  Pope,  have 
agreed  in  this,  that  the  Church  of  France  shall 
not  be  the  mother  and  mistress  of  her  own  spir- 
itual household.  I  have  ventured  to  give  this 
rapid  outline  of  a  history,  whose  incidents  might 
of  themselves  profitably  employ  the  time  allot- 
ted to  these  lectures,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
an  objection. 


The  Particiilai"  or  National  Church.       83 

XIII.  What  is  the  v/orth,  one  may  say,  of 
the  National  Churches,  whose  sovereignty  you 
maintain,  when  their  history  shows  them  so  im- 
potent, in  the  presence  of  Kings  who  recognize 
no  Hmitation  of  their  prerogative,  of  Pontiffs 
v/ho  claim  universal  empire,  of  legislative  mobs, 
who  destroy  by  an  edict  the  pious  up- growth  of 
centuries  ?  Remember  how  your  own  Anglican 
Reformation  was  marked  by  subservience,  and 
plunder,  and  royal  arrogance  in  determining 
religious  definitions  and  causes  ecclesiastical ; 
and  see,  even  to-day,  deeply  rooted  as  is  the 
Church  of  England,  how  distracted  she  is  by  her 
submission  to  civil  courts,  and  how  men  are 
threatening  to  secularize  her  Universities,  to  as- 
sume control  of  her  endowments,  and  to  displace 
her  from  her  seat  of  eminent  dignity.  Is  it  not 
Utopian  to  hold  that  the  National  Church  can 
plant  herself  on  her  high  commission,  and 
maintain  her  essential  rights,  when  on  every 
hand  such  claims  are  resisted  and  derided  ? 

I  answer,  that  with  the  history  of  the  earlier 
Israel  before  us,  these  things  need  not  move  us. 
It  is  no  new  thing  for  the  Church  to  present  the 
picture  of  altars  thrown  down  and  prophets  flee- 
ing into  exile,  and  her  children  in  apostasy,  save 


84  The  ChiDxJi  in  the  Natioti. 

a  faithful  few.  We  have  seen  men  whose  exam- 
ple was  for  evil  only,  sitting  in  IMoses'  seat,  and 
the  High  Priesthood  bought  with  money,  and 
Kings  and  Cliurchmcn  alike  resisting  and  perse- 
cuting the  Lord's  Christ.  And  yet  that  ancient 
Church  subserved  its  purpose,  and  above  its  de- 
bris uprose  the  fair  towers  of  the  early,  undivi- 
ded Church  of  Christ. 

We  have  the  surest  promises,  that  however 
man  may  mar  the  handiwork  of  God,  he  shall 
never  destroy  it  or  frustrate  its  design.  None  may 
pretend  that  the  Church  is  a  failure  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  Jewish  Church  seemed  to  have  fail- 
ed when  our  Lord  came  to  it.  Men  may  twit  us 
with  our  seeming  dependence  for  the  power  of 
self-reformation  upon  the  caprices  of  Henry  VHI, 
or  with  the  time-serving  of  Cranmcr,  or  with  the 
rationalizing  determinations  of  Privy  Councils  in 
our  own  times :  but  for  all  that,  if  there  is  any- 
thing in  this  world  instinct  with  energy,  and 
moral  influence,  and  spiritual  affection,  and  deeds 
of  charity,  it  is  the  Church  of  England. 

And  as  for  the  Churches  of  the  Roman  obe- 
dience, serious  as  is  our  controversy  with  them, 
none  but  the  unreasonable  and  the  uncharitable; 
may  charge  them   with    apostasy.     Tlie  Arch- 


TJie  Partiadar  or  National  Church.      85 

bishop  of  Paris,  shot  to  the  death  at  the  portal 
of  Notre  Dame,  is  one  of  many  faithful  pastors. 
The  Church  that  brings  forth  such  sons  as  Fene- 
lon  and  Pascal,  is  far  from  dead.  And  as  for  the 
representatives  of  Rome  in  these  United  States 
aX-XorpioETtiaKOTToi^  as  we  hold  them  to  be, 
none  can  lay  down  their  late  official  utterance, 
without  devout  thankfulness  to  Almighty  God, 
for  the  evidence  there  afforded,  that  they  are 
keen- eyed  to  discern  the  dangers  which  threaten 
American  society,  that  they  desire  to  lead  their 
people  up  to  just  ideas  of  personal  devotion,  of 
Christian  home-life,  of  separation  from  the 
world's  vices.' 

No,  the  true  moral  of  history  is,  that  where  the 
National  Church  is  least  disturbed,  relying  on 
her  own  resources  and  the  promises  of  her  God, 
rather  than  on  the  aid  of  Princes  and  outside 
Hierarchies,  there  is  she  most  glorious  and  most 
effective.'* 

'  Pastoral  Letter  of  Plenary  Council,  Baltimore,  1884. 
-  The  following  summary  of  the  powers  exercised  by  Provincial 
Synods  or  National  Churches  in  the  first  six  centuries,  is  so  terse 
and  convincing  that  1  give  it  at  length. 

"  But  this  right  of  provincial  synods,  that  they  might  decree  in 
causes  of  faith,  and  in  cases  of  reformation,  where  corruptions 
had  crept  into  the  sacraments  of  Christ,  was  practised  much 
above  a  thousand  years  ago  by  many  both  national  and  provin- 


86  TJic  CJitirch  in  the  Natio7i. 

cial  synods.  For  the  Council  at  Rome  under  Pope  Sylvester, 
Anno  324,  condemned  Photinus  and  Sabellius  ;  (and  their  here- 
sies were  of  high  nature  against  the  faith.)  The  Council  at 
Gangra  about  the  same  time  condemned  Eustathius  for  his  con- 
demning of  marriage  as  unlawful.  The  first  Council  at  Car- 
thage, being  a  provincial,  condemned  rebaptization,  much 
about  the  year  348.  The  provincial  Council  at  Aquileia  in  the 
year3Si,  in  which  St.  Ambrose  was  present,  condemned  Palla- 
dius  and  Secundinus  for  embracing  the  Arian  heresy.  The  sec- 
ond Council  of  Carthage  handled  and  decreed  the  belief  and 
preaching  of  the  Trinity  ;  and  this  a  little  after  the  year  424. 
The  Council  of  Milevis  in  Africa,in  which  St.  Augustine  was  pres- 
ent, condemned  the  whole  course  of  the  heresy  of  Pelagius,  that 
great  and  bewitching  heresy,  in  the  year  416.  The  second 
Council  at  Orange,  a  provincial  too,  handled  the  great  contro- 
versies about  grace  and  freewill,  and  set  the  Church  right  in 
them,  in  the  year  444.  The  third  council  at  Toledo,  (a  national 
one)  in  the  year  589,  determined  many  things  against  the  Arian 
heresy,  about  the  very  prime  articles  of  faith,  under  fourteen 
several  anathemas.  The  fourth  Council  at  Toledo  did  not  only 
handle  matters  of  faith  for  the  reformation  of  that  people,  but 
even  added  also  some  things  to  the  Creed  which  were  not  ex- 
pressly delivered  in  former  Creeds.  Nay,  the  Bishops  did  not 
only  practise  this  to  condemn  heresies  in  national  and  provincial 
synods,  and  so  reform  those  several  places  and  the  Church  itself 
by  parts,  but  they  did  openly  challenge  this,  as  their  right  and 
due,  and  that  without  any  leave  asked  of  the  see  of  Rome  :  for  in 
this  fourth  Council  of  Toledo  they  decree,  "  That  if  there  hap- 
pen a  cause  of  faith  to  be  settled,  a  general,  that  is,  a  national 
synod  of  all  Spain  and  Galicia  shall  be  held  thereon  ;  "  and  this 
in  the  year  643  :  where  you  see  it  was  then  catholic  doctrine 
in  all  Spain  that  a  national  synod  might  be  a  competent  judge 
in  a  cause  of  faith." 

"  Laitd^s  Conference  with  Fisher,''''  (Oxford)  p.   126-7. 


LECTURE    III. 

The  Church  in  the  United  States  Na- 
tional AND  Pure. 


LECTURE  III. 

THE    CHURCH    LV    THE    UNITED    STATES    NA- 
TIONAL AND    PURE. 

"  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  submit  your- 
selves ;  for  they  watch  for  your  souls,  as  they  that  must  give 
account." — Hebrews  xiii.  17. 

'T~^HE  Lord  Jesus  is  described  by  the  writer  of 
-*-  this  Epistle,  a  {q^n  verses  later,  as  "  that 
Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep."  To  Him  belongs 
the  absolute  supervision  of  the  flock,  to  Him  is 
due  an  obedience  which  knows  no  limit  or  con- 
dition. 

But  He  is  not  the  only  Shepherd.  He  has 
His  deputies  to  whom  He  has  said,  "  Feed  my 
sheep.  Feed  my  lambs."  To  these  pastors  we 
are,  in  the  text,  remitted.  Whatever  questions 
may  be  raised  as  to  the  limit  of  their  accounta- 
bility, or  as  to  the  measure  of  the  obedience  to 
be  rendered  to  them,  it  is  beyond  all  question 
that  Rule,  and  submission  to  Rule,  are  here  set 
forth  as  essential  characteristics  of  the  Christian 


90  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Church.     The  Church  possesses,  by    delegation 
from  Almighty  God,  a  right  to  govern. 

It  is  commonly  held  that  in  these  United 
States  there  is  no  ecclesiastical  body  possessed  of 
prescriptive  rights ;  that  the  relation  between 
the  denomination  and  its  adherents,  is  by  volun- 
tary compact  dissolvable  at  will,  and  that  obedi- 
ence to  pastors  rests  upon  no  deeper  foundation 
than  the  duty  of  every  peaceable  man  to  conform 
to  the  regulations  of  any  society,  of  any  sort, 
in  which  he  has  consented  to  be  enrolled. 

We  dare  not  thus  explain  away  the  "  obedi- 
ence of  faith  "  to  which  we  are  called,  or  reduce 
our  accountability  for  individual  souls  and  for  the 
religion  of  the  nation  wherein  we  are  set,  to  a 
mere  advisory  function. 

We  claim  that  Almighty  God  has  not  left  the 
people  of  this  land  without  a  company  of  Pastors 
to  whom  it  belongs  by  prescriptive  right  to  open 
the  doors  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  W^e  are 
^^  bold  to  affirm,  that  the  body  known  as  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America  stands  before  the  men  of  this  nation 
as  the  lawful  representative  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  of  its  Head. 

This  statement  raises  at  once  the  question    of 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.    91 

Legitimacy  and  of  Purity.  If  so  be  that  we 
have  intruded  where  wc  have  no  right  to  be,  all 
such  pretension  falls  to  the  ground  ;  or  if  we  have 
fallen  into  such  depravation  of  faith,  doctrine  or 
discipline  as  to  mar  our  Catholicity,  our  claim  to 
religious  obedience  is  to  that  extent  impaired, 

II.  Confining  ourselves  for  the  present  to 
the  question  of  Legitimacy,  it  is  the  very  sim- 
plicity of  the  argument  that  stands  in  the  way 
of  its  reception.  The  particular  objections  which 
may  be  alleged,  admit  of  detailed  controversy. 
But  the  original  question,  How  should  the  Cath- 
olic Church  be  set  up  in  the  midst  of  a  new-born 
nation,  rests  upon  essential  grounds  which  may 
not  be  successfully  disputed. 

We  have  said  that  as  the  waters  of  life  issued 
from  the  opened  sepulchre,  their  currents  adapt- 
ed themselves  by  an  inevitable  necessity  to  the 
configuration,  geographical  and  national,  of  the 
world  which  they  were  to  vivify.  With  this 
agree  the  intimations  of  the  Master  Himself  and 
of  His  Apostles,  the  facts  of  Church  history  and 
the  dictates  of  human  prudence.  It  is  under  the 
operation  of  this  uniform  law  that  the  Churches 
of  Europe,  of  Africa  and  of  the  East  took  shape 
and  form. 


92  The  CJiiirch  in  the  Nation, 

The  discovery  of  a  continent  is  a  new  fact  in 
the  world's  history,  but  the  precedents  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  past,  are  adequate  to  meet  the  ex- 
igence. The  nations  of  the  old  world  plant  col- 
onies on  this  Western  shore :  they  send  hither 
their  laws  and  institutions  ;  they  do  also  rightly 
transmit  the  religious  organization  of  the  Moth- 
er country.  There  is  no  room,  in  point  of  le- 
gitimacy, for  any  rival  claimant. 

Our  ancestors  then,  as  colonists  of  England, 
retained  their  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. From  her  they  received  their  pastors  and 
teachers:  to  the  Bishop  of  London  and  his  com- 
missaries they  rendered  canonical  obedience;  to 
the  nursing  care  of  that  Mother  they  were  in- 
debted for  whatever  of  religious  privilege  they 
possessed. 

Presently  the  time  arrived  when  the  child-na- 
tion should  come  of  age,  and  enter  upon  its  in- 
heritance. It  realizes  the  necessity  of  a  new 
ecclesiastical  adjustment.  Separated  by  the  act 
of  Divine  Providence  from  its  filial  subjection, 
its  scattered  members  take  counsel  together. 
They  ask  and  obtain,  first  of  all,  from  the  Church 
of  Scotland  the  gift  of  Apostolic  Orders  ;  and 
presently  the  Church  of  England,  exacting  pru- 


The  Church  hi  the  United  States  National.  93 

dent  safeguards,  supplies  them  with  all  that  was 
needed  to  make  of  the  daughter- Church,  a  sis- 
ter, and  to  secure  for  her  a  place  among  the  na- 
tional Churches  of  the  world. 

This  is  the  plain  account  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  Church  of  America  came  into 
independent  existence.  It  differs,  no  doubt,  in 
accident  and  circumstances  from  ancient  prece- 
dents :  but  in  all  substantial  features  it  agrees 
with  the  founding,  the  development  and  the 
final  establishment  of  Churches  in  earlier  days, 
set  up  among  nations  emerging  into  civilization 
and  independence. 

Whatever  authority  then  is  possessed  as  her  /y 
inherent  right  by  the  Church  of  England,  within 
her  proper  domain,  that  same  authority  belongs 
to  the  American  Church  within  the  limits  of  her 
nationality. 

I  grant  freely  that  in  thus  contending  for  the 
prescriptive  authority  of  the  American  Church, 
1  have  made  large  assumptions.  I  have  told 
you  frankly  that  I  pre-suppose  the  broad  and 
sure  foundations  laid  by  Catholic  and  Anglican 
Doctors.  If  any  believe  not  that  the  Church  is 
visible  and  one,  unalterable  in  the  essential  of 
Apostlic  Faith  and  Order  :  or  if  any  hold  that  the 


94  The  CJuirch  in  the  Nation. 

Bishops  of  a  national  Church  owe  any  debt,  save 
that  of  love  and  comity,  to  a  foreign  Church  or 
minister  by  the  sufferance  of  a  Universal  Pontiff, 
to  such  our  words  are  but  as  the  idlest  tales. 

But  if  the  Church  of  England,  venerable,  es- 
tablished, and  endowed,  has  a  Mother's  rights 
and  a  Mother's  responsibility  for  the  Lord's  child- 
ren in  England,  she  has  duly  transmitted  to  this 
Church  wherein  we  minister,  howbeit  without 
antiquity  or  civil  recognition  or  inherited  wealth, 
the  like  authority  within  our  natural  limits. 

That  this  view  and  no  other  was  taken  by  our 
ancestors  may  be  abundantly  proven.  As  early 
as  the  3rd  of  November,  1776,  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  the  State  of  Maryland  set  forth  a 
"  Declaration  of  Rights." — Section  xxxiii.  treats 
of  religion. 

It  asserts,  first  of  all,  the  principle  of  religious 
toleration,  and  then  affirms  "  the  churches,  chap- 
els, glebes  and  all  other  property  now  belonging 
to  the  Church  of  England,  ought  to  remain  to  the 
Church  of  England  forever."  In  the  act  of  1777, 
concerning  marriages,  and  in  the  Vestry  Act 
of  1779,  mention  is  made  of  "  Ministers  of  the 
Church  of  England,"  "  parish  churches  and 
chapels  of  the  Church  of  England,"  and  of  "  per- 


TJic  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  95 

sons  publicly  known  to  be  of  the  profession  in 
religion  known  by  the  name  of  the  Church  of 
England."  Again,  the  preamble  of  the  act  to 
incorporate  a  Clergy  Relief  Fund,  1784,  recites 
that  application  had  been  made  "  by  a  Commit- 
tee appointed  by  and  in  behalf  of  the  Clergy  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  this  State, 
formerly  denominated  the  Church  of  England." 
Such  citations  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied. 
They  serve  to  show  that  in  the  judgment  of  civil- 
ians, dealing  with  questions  of  vested  right,  the 
continuity  between  the  Church  of  England  and 
our  own,  is  evident  and  unbroken. 

If  we  turn  to  the  utterances  of  our  own  eccle- 
siastical authorities,  they  have  been  always  to  the 
same  effect.  One  illustration  is  a  fair  specimen  of 
them  all.  I  allude  to  the  Declaration  set  forth 
by  the  House  of  Bishops,  May  20th,  18 14,  com- 
municated to  the  House  of  Deputies,  and  return- 
ed by  them  with  the  answer  that  they  concurred 
therein. 

"  It  having  been  credibly  stated  to  the 
House  of  Bishops,  that  on  questions  in  reference 
to  property  devised  before  the  Revolution,  to 
congregations  belonging  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  to  uses  connected  v/ith  that  name,  some 


g6  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

doubts  have  been  entertained  in  regard  to  the 
identity  of  the  body  to  which  the  two  names 
have  been  apphed,  the  House  think  it  expedient 
to  make  the  declaration,  and  to  request  the 
concurrence  of  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay 
Deputies  therein,  that  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  i.s  the 
same  body  heretofore  known  in  these  States  by 
the  name  of  the  "Church  of  England  ;"  the  change 
of  name,  although  not  of  religious  principle  in 
doctrine,  or  in  worship,  or  in  discipline,  being  in- 
duced by  a  characteristic  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, supposing  the  independence  of  Christian 
Churches,  under  the  different  sovereignties  to 
which,  respectively,  their  allegiance  in  civil  con- 
cerns belongs.  But  that  when  the  severance  al- 
luded to,  took  place,  and  ever  since^  this  Church 
conceives  of  herself  as  professing  and  acting  on 
the  principles  of  the  Church  of  England,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  organization  of  our  Convention, 
and  from  their  subsequent  proceedings  as  record- 
ed on  the  Journals  ;  to  which,  accordingly,  this 
Convention  refer  for  satisfaction  in  the  premises. 
But  it  would  be  contrary  to  fact,  were  any  one 
to  infer  that  the  discipline  exercised  in  this 
Church,  or  that  any  proceedings  there,  are  at  all 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  97 

dependent  on  the  will  of  the  civil  or  of  the  eccle- 
siastical authority  of  any  foreign  country,"  ^ 

It  will  readily  occur  to  you,  that  this  affirma- 
tion of  Legitimacy  cannot  be  confined  to  our- 
selves. It  is  equally  applicable,  for  instance,  to 
the  Churches  of  the  Roman  obedience  in  Mexico, 
and  in  the  nations  of  South  America.  I  do  not 
avoid  this  argument.  It  is  within  the  scope  of 
these  Lectures  to  consider  our  attitude  towards 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  questions  which 
have  been  mooted  in  connection  with  our  abortive 
effort  in  Mexico,  and  with  the  Old-Catholic 
movements  in  Europe.  This  subject  is  reserved 
for  special  treatment  hereafter. 

III.  But  let  me  remind  you  that  the  thesis 
proposed  by  the  Founder  of  these  Lectures,  which 
I  am  endeavoring  to  illustrate  and  enforce,  in- 
volves more  than  Legitimacy  and  Prescriptive 
Right.  My  theme  is  the  Rights  and  Powers  of 
a  "  Pure  and  National  Church." 

In  proffering  the  Church  as  the  guide  and 
teacher  of  the  Nation,  in  the  things  of  God,  it 
would  avail  little  for  practical  uses,  barely  to  show 
that  Priestly  authority  has  been  transmitted  ac- 
cording  to   the   rule    of  Scripture  and    of  the 

1  Reprinted  in  Journal  of  Gen.  Con.,   1847,  p.  228. 

7 


98  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Ancients;  or  that  this  Church,  originally  a 
branch  of  an  ancient  stock,  in  the  natural  order 
of  things,  rooted  itself  in  the  soil  of  a  new  world, 
and  by  an  undisputed  concession,  passed  out  of 
the  dependence  of  infancy,  and  according  to  the 
old-time  rule,  accepted  an  autonomy  made  neces- 
sary by  the  up-growth  of  a  new  nationality. 

Order  and  organization  are  but  means  to  ends  : 
conduits,  stretching  across  the  campagna  of  life 
to  the  distant  hills,  beautiful  and  venerable  in 
themselves,  but  having  their  utmost  worth  in  this, 
that  they  safely  convey  the  water  from  the  living 
rock  to  the  lips  of  thirsting  men. 

We  have  need  then  to  vindicate  the  Purity  of 
the  Church,  and  to  meet  such  objections  as  may 
be  preferred  against  her,  not  in  the  spirit  of  re- 
sentment, but  in  all  candor  and  fairness. 

The  argument  need  not  draw  us  into  personal- 
ities, nor  lead  us  to  compare  ourselves  with  other 
men  and  to  claim  superior  sanctity. 

The  spectacle  is  sometimes  seen  of  a  maa 
conscious  of  many  infirmities,  most  reluctant  to 
palm  himself  off  to  others  at  an  estimate  beyond 
his  true  value,  yet  having  no  concession  to  make, 
when  his  substantial  integrity  is  impugned,  and 
repelling   with    indignation,    any   assault    upon 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  99 

his  honorable  discharge  of  all  fiduciary  engage- 
ments. 

It  cannot  be  charged  against  the  fathers  and 
members  of  this  Church  that  they  are  lost  in 
mutual  admiration,  or  blindly  devoted  to  all 
the  details  of  our  ecclesiastical  administration.  I 
appeal  with  confidence  to  my  cotemporaries,  and 
ask  them,  whether  for  the  last  thirty  years  :  or  to 
be  more  precise,  from  the  date  of  the  Memorial 
Movement  of  1853,  associated  with  the  names  of 
Muhlenberg  and  of  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter,  self- 
scrutiny,  even  to  the  point  of  self-depreciation, 
has  not  specially  characterized  our  consultations  ? 

What  are  we  doing  to  promote  Christian  unity  ? 
And  what  to  carry  our  message  to  the  hard- 
handed  multitudes?  And  what  to  resist  the  swell- 
ing tide  of  vice  and  drunkenness  ?  And  what 
to  convert  the  formalist  and  worldly-minded 
who  throng  our  aisles,  and  it  may  be,  our 
altars  as  well,  into  prayerful,  self-denying,  open- 
handed  saints  ?  These  questions  are  freely  asked. 

We  have  invited  criticism  from  ^vithout,  and 
when  the  righteous  has  smitten  us  friendly,  we 
have  thanked  him  for  his  frankness.  A  glance  at 
our  religious  journals  suffices  to  show,  that  no  one 
deems  it  necessary  to  refrain  his  critical  speech ; 


100  The  CJiurch  in  I  he  Nation. 

the  serious  and  the  thoughtful,  who  have  learned 
that  public  evils  easily  espied,  may  not  hastily  be 
cured,  offer  modestly  their  contribution  for  the 
supply  of  deficiencies  :  while  the  irreverent  and 
self-sufficing,  the  men  of  shibboleth  and  party, 
are  permitted  to  rail  recklessly  not  merely  at  di- 
lapidation or  excrescence,  but  at  the  substantial 
fabric.  But  after  meek  acceptance  of  such  re- 
proofs as  men  may  administer  for  our  deficien- 
cies in  prudence  and  invention,  in  zeal  and  good 
works,  we  may  yet  stand  up  with  holy  courage, 
and  afiirm  that  no  treachery  lies  at  our  doors. 
We  have  kept  safely,  even  if  we  have  not  admin- 
istered in  the  fullness  of  charity.  We  have  kept 
the  Faith.  Nor  only  so.  We  have  kept  the  whole 
deposit  of  doctrine  and  order  committed  to  our 
trust. 

Here  we  have  our  cause,  for  the  most  part,  in 
common  with  the  Church  of  England,  and  fall 
back  with  confidence  upon  her  great  Doctors, 
who  have  so  ably  defended  her  from  every  im- 
putation cast  upon  her. 

It  belongs  to  a  Pure  Church  to  be  a  witness  and 
keeper  of  the  written  Word  of  God.  Well  and 
truly  has  this  duty  been  performed.  The  dignity 
of  that  Word  and  the  reverence  due  to  it,  its  par- 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  lOI 

amount  authority  above  all  human  utterances, 
its  profitableness  for  all  spiritual  exigencies,  its 
adequateness  of  revelation  for  all  questions  of 
duty  and  for  all  that  belongs  to  the  rescue  and 
the  renovation  of  the  fallen,  are  invariably  at- 
tested in  her  every  utterance.  None  may  de- 
prive us  of  this  our  glorying.  The  Church's 
one  offensive  weapon  is  the  Word  of  God.  As 
the  Priest  that  is  to  be,  comes  to  ask  of  her  a 
commission,  "  to  seek  for  Christ's  sheep  that  are 
dispersed  abroad,  and  for  His  children  who  are 
in  the  midst  of  this  naughty  world,  that  they 
may  be  saved  through  Christ  for  ever,"  it  is  the 
Bible  which  she  places  in  his  hands,  with  the  re- 
minder, "Ye  cannot  by  any  other  means,  com- 
pass the  doing  of  so  weighty  a  work,  pertaining 
to  the  salvation  of  man,  but  with  doctrine  and 
exhortation  taken  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  with  a  life  agreeable  to  the  same." 

Nor  has  she  wrapped  this  precious  talent  in  a 
napkin  and  hidden  it  in  secret.  She  acknowl- 
edges the  instruction  of  the  Giver,  'Occupy  till  I 
come.'  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John  are  not 
now  the  prisoners  who  petitioned  Queen  Eliza- 
beth at  her  coronation,  for  release.  In  the 
Church's  estimate  they  are  living  creatures  and 


102  TJic  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

many-winged,  flying  abroad  through  all  the  na- 
tions. 

That  volume  has  not  lain  idle  and  disused  in 
her  hands.  Who  can  compute  the  labor  that  has 
been  expended  in  transcribing,  printing,  and 
diffusing!  In  repeated  translations,  and  in  efforts 
even  now  in  progress,  to  secure  the  truest  ren- 
dering into  modern  speech  of  those  venerable 
documents  !  Nor  only  so,  but  in  expositions  of 
the  sacred  text,  involving  enormous  research  in- 
to all  literature,  sacred  and  profane  !  And  as  for 
the  habitual  use  of  it,  it  may  be  doubted  wheth- 
er any  Church,  in  any  age,  has  made  so  large  a 
use  of  Holy  Scripture  for  purposes  of  instruct- 
ion and  devotion,  in  her  public  assemblies. 

Are  you  impatient  of  statements  so  self-evi- 
dent ?  My  brethren,  we  have  all  need  to  im- 
press upon  our  hearts,  our  infinite  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  the  Spirit  of  all  good,  for  the  singular 
grace  He  has  accorded  to  the  English-speaking 
Church,  of  fidelity  to  a  trust  so  sacred.  When  one 
thinks  how  seldom  it  is,  that  among  the  great 
company  of  preachers  who  fill  the  pulpits  of  the 
land,  one,  after  the  example  of  the  Master,  stands 
up  "  for  to  read,"  and  how  it  has  never  so  much 
as  occurred  to  the  many,  in  hours   of  penitence 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  1 03 

and  sadness,  of  thankfulness  and  adoration,  to 
pour  out  their  hearts  in  formulas  so  precious  to 
us  that  we  know  not  how  to  dispense  with 
them,  the  Miserei'c  mei,  the  Dc  profundis,  the 
Jubilate,  the  Quam  dilecta :  when  one  recalls 
the  thrill  of  approbation  and  of  gratitude  to  God 
which  pervaded  all  our  hearts,  by  reason  of  an 
utterance  of  the  Roman  Hierarchy,  in  Plenary 
Council  assembled  in  Baltimore,  "  the  most  high- 
ly valued  treasure  of  every  family  library,  and  the 
mjst  frequently  and  lovingly  made  tise  of,  should 
be  the  Holy  Scriptures :"  in  view  of  such  things, 
no  words  are  adequate  to  express  our  debt  of 
love  and  veneration  to  the  dear  old  Mother,  for 
Scriptures  kept  and  guarded,  for  the  gift  of  a 
translation  so  beautiful  that  it  crystallized  and 
fixed  the  language  in  which  it  was  written,  and 
for  the  skill  and  spiritualness  by  which  the  Sa- 
cred Word  has  been  made  to  underlie,  to  inter- 
penetrate, to  beautify  and  to  spiritualize,  all  our 
devotions  and  all  spiritual  functions. 

The  Church  is  Pure  in  that  she  has  kept  the 
Faith  :  in  that  she  has  not  fallen  into  the  error 
of  erasing  the  line  of  demarcation  between  arti- 
cles of  Faith  and  articles  of  Doctrine:  in  that 
she  has  preserved  unimpaired  the  great  Doctrines 


104  The  Church  in  the  Natiofi. 

of  our  Holy  Religion  as  well  as  its  essential  Creed. 

The  Faith  is  that  acknowledgment  of  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  imposed  by  our  Blessed 
Lord,  as  the  profession  to  be  made  by  all  who 
are  admitted  into  His  earthly  family,  presently 
elaborated  into  the  Creeds  of  Christendom. 
Such  Creeds,  identical  in  substance,  although  at 
the  first  varied  in  phraseology,  were  in  early  days 
the  symbols  by  which  all  Christians  recognized 
their  unity  ;  the  pass- words  at  which  the  Church 
in  each  and  every  nation  opened  its  doors  to  the 
baptized  stranger. 

Could  some  saint  of  the  days  of  the  General 
Councils  awake  as  from  a  swoon  and  approach 
our  portals,  he  would  be  challenged  just  as  his 
cotemporaries  were  wont  to  challenge  each 
professed  Christian  :  there  would  be  laden  upon 
him  no  greater  burden  than  the  same  yoke  of 
necessary  belief,  which  the  fathers  imposed  upon 
all  such  as  would  be  saved. 

The  Faith  is  somewhat  to  be  exacted  of  men 
as  a  pre-requisite  for  Holy  Baptism,  as  an  unal- 
terable condition  of  salvation,  under  the  sanction, 
"  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved."  Belief  and  Baptism  in  the  thrice  holy 
name,  stand  unique,   above  and   apart  from  all 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  105 


other  things,  as  the  primary  essentials  of  Christian 
citizenship. 

A  particular  Church  is  not  at  hberty  to  deny 
or  to  conceal  any  part  of  this  Faith.  Neither  is 
it  permissible  to  erect  into  an  article  of  Faith, 
any  doctrine  whatsoever,  albeit  it  is  assured  to 
us  by  Scripture  itself  and  by  Catholic  consent. 
Whenever  this  process  begins,  the  Unity  of 
Christendom  receives  a  fatal  wound.  Error  in 
doctrine  may  be  tolerated  in  a  Church,  so  long 
as  the  erroneous  teaching  is  not  imposed  upon 
the  conscience. 

Communion  between  Sister  Churches,  who 
differ  much  in  their  doctrinal  confessions,  is  en- 
tirely practicable,  so  long  as  the  Catholic  Creeds 
abide  as  the  sufficient  text  of  orthodoxy.  There 
is  a  reason  for  this.  The  Creeds  are  in  the 
main,  the  recitation  of  the  facts  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion. Doctrinal  statements  involve  more  or  less 
of  human  wisdom  or  unwisdom,  in  formulating 
and  reconciling  the  scattered  utterances  of  the 
inspired  volume.  I  do  not  disparage  the  value  of 
Doctrine.  The  Church  cannot  meet  her  obliga- 
tions to  her  own  children  without  statements 
auxiliary  to  the  great  confessions.  But  this 
Church  has  distinctly   recognized    on    the    one 


io6  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

hand  her  hbcrty  to  teach  all  that  her  Lord  has 
commanded  to  be  observed,  and  on  the  other 
her  lack  of  authority  to  add  to  the  Faith  once 
delivered,  any  religious  doctrine,  however  true, 
however  precious. 

And  this  is  our  great  contention  with  the 
Church  of  Rome.  It  needs  not  that  we  prove 
that  Purgatory  is  an  invention,  or  that  Transub- 
stantiation  is  a  false  explanation  of  the  Real 
Presence.  We  are  not  required  to  demonstrate 
that  the  Blessed  Virgin  did  inherit  a  fallen  na- 
ture, being  herself  saved  by  the  grace  of  her  Son, 
not  in  reward  of  her  own  unsullied  righteous- 
ness. 

Reserving  all  questions  of  the  truth  or  false- 
hood of  the  doctrinal  statements  in  controversy, 
we  ask,  was  it  ever  heard,  until  of  late,  that  to 
affirm  these  things  was  necessary  in  order  to  be 
a  Christian ;  that  to  refuse  assent  to  them  was  to 
become  heretic,  and  to  incur  the  dire  penalties 
in  store  for  him  who  denies  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  come  in  the  flesh  ? 

The  convert-Cardinals,  whose  names  once 
stood  so  high  on  the  rolls  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, have    sought   to    answer   these    questions. 

Newman  proposed  a  most   ingenious   theory 


The  CJntrch  in  the  U fitted  States  National.  107 

of  Development,  which  failed  however  to  be  ac- 
cepted by  his  associates. 

It  could  not  be  so  stretched  as  to  embrace 
doctrines  for  which  it  could  not  be  pretended 
there  was  in  the  Apostolic  teaching  so  much  as 
a  protoplastic  cell,  out  of  which  they  might  be 
evolved.  Manning  presently,  as  by  a  word, 
changes  the  line  of  battle,  and  deserts  as  worth- 
less the  familiar  Roman  entrenchments.  In  the 
"  Temporal  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost "  he 
teaches  in  substance,  that  the  appeal  from  the 
living  voice  of  the  Church  to  any  tribunal  what- 
soever, human  history  included,  is  an  act  of 
private  judgment  and  a  treason. 

It  is  necessary  to  the  Purity  of  the  Church, 
that  besides  keeping  the  Faith  and  guarding  it 
apart,  she  should  maintain  that  truth  of  Doctrine, 
which  grows  out  of  the  Faith,  and  which  is  need- 
ed in  order  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  thor- 
oughly furnished  unto  all  good  works.  This 
truth  must  be  taught  distinctly  and  intelligibly  ; 
it  must  be  held  in  its  symmetry,  no  individual 
feature  being  exaggerated  to  the  dwarfing  of 
others  :  it  must  be  presented  in  its  evangelic  pow- 
er and  spiritualness,  and  not  in  the  shape  of 
lifeless  formulas.     Of  this  doctrinal    Purity    the 


io8  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

truest  safeguard  is  the  substantial  Liturgy  of 
the  ages,  wherein  the  company  of  behevcrs 
throughout  the  world,  have  embodied  in  de- 
votional forms,  the  most  assured  convictions  of 
Christian  souls.  By  all  such  tests,  the  Church 
is  ready  to  be  tried. 

To  resist  the  force  of  these  general  statements 
particular  objections  arc  made  against  the  Legiti- 
macy and  the  Purity  of  the  Anglican  and  of  the 
American  Churches,  to  which  it  seems  necessary 
to  advert. 

IV.  One  class  of  objections  may  be  grouped 
together,  inasmuch  as  they  impugn  the  Mission 
and  lawful  Jurisdiction  of  these  Churches. 

It  is  said  that  apart  from  the  Papal  claim  to 
the  universal  Episcopate,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  at 
least  the  Patriarch  of  the  West ;  that  the  Popes 
who  sent  missionaries  into  the  British  Islands, 
Eleutherius  in  the  second  century,  Celestine  in 
the  fifth,  and  Gregory  in  the  sixth,  acquired 
thereby  rights  of  eminent  domain,  so  that  when 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury  ceased  to  be  invest- 
ed with  the  pallium,  their  Mission  was  lost  for- 
ever. Such  objections  not  only  make  large  as- 
sumptions of  historical  facts,  disputed  and  denied, 
but  pre-supposc  a  rigidity  in  Patriarchal  and  Me- 


The  Church  iji  Ihe  United  States  National.  1 09 

tropolitan  arrangements,  at  variance  with  the 
grounds  of  expediency  on  which  they  have  always 
rested,  and  with  the  changes  to  which  they  have 
been  subjected,  sometimes  by  the  authority  of 
Councils,  and  sometimes  by  less  formal,  but 
universally  accepted  compacts.  They  strike  at  the 
root  of  the  autonomy  of  National  Churches,  and 
make  all  ecclesiastical  bodies  dependent,  in  all 
time,  upon  the  Bishop,  perchance  thousands  of 
miles  distant,  whose  charity  sent  forth  the  sow- 
er to  scatter  the  good  seed  beside  all  waters. 

Objection  is  made  to  the  irregularities  attend- 
ant on  the  withdrawal  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  Papal  rule :  to  the  vices  of  those  who 
promoted  this  revolt,  to  the  spiritual  tyranny  ex- 
ercised by  the  civil  authority,  to  the  deprivation 
of  Bishops  by  the  secular  arm,  and  the  consecra- 
tion of  Bishops  without  the  consent  of  a  majori- 
ty of  the  comprovincials. 

And  as  for  the  American  Church,  it  is  ob- 
jected that  its  Mission  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, valueless  as  that  was,  lapsed  ipso  facto  with 
the  political  separation :  that  a  few  persons  in 
Priests'  orders  who  were  left  as  waifs  upon  these 
shores,  sustained  by  a  small  company  of  baptized 
laymen,     invented    and     created    a    brand-new 


1 1  o  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Church,  and  by  their  voluntary  compact,  impart- 
ed to  it  Mission  and  Jurisdiction.  The  patient 
waiting  upon  the  providence  of  God,  the  studi- 
ous care  to  keep  strictly  within  the  lines  of  settled 
usage,  the  distinct  investiture  of  the  daughter 
by  the  mother  from  whom  most  naturally  she 
would  ask  the  gifts  of  Orders,  Mission  and  Juris- 
diction, these  are  kept  back,  and  the  story  is  told, 
as  if  our  ancestors  had  proceeded  on  the  desert- 
island  theory,  and  evolved  an  original  doctrine, 
liturgy  and  ministry  out  of  their  own  unaided 
resources. 

V.  Without  entering  into  the  details  of  the 
controversies  on  these  subjects,  which  fill  hun- 
dreds of  volumes,  we  venture  to  call  attention  to 
some  great  principles  in  the  light  of  which  these 
things  are  to  be  viewed.  Particular  objections, 
as  Bishop  Butler  has  taught  us,  are  simply  inex- 
haustible. Nothing  is  so  surely  ascertained,  that 
ingenuity  cannot  find  something  to  say  against  it. 
There  is  an  outline,  an  effect,  a  general  result 
which  of  itself  refutes  the  frivolity  of  minute  crit- 
icism. 

VI.  When  the  Church  asserts  authority  for 
her  rule,  men  have  a  right  to  demand  such  ac- 
count of  herself  as   to  lead   to  moral   certainty. 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  1 1 1 


This  has  been  defined  as  "  siich  a  high  degree  of 
probability  as  would  justify  a  prudent  man  in 
acting  upon  it,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
as  if  it  lucre  an  absolute  certainty."  ^ 

A  prudent  man  then  recognizes  the  "  circum- 
stances of  the  case."  He  does  not  set  up  criteria 
of  his  own  as  indispensable.  He  agrees  in  ad- 
vance that  God  has  not  violently  held  men  back 
from  disfiguring  His  handiwork.  To  recur  to 
the  familiar  figure,  the  river  of  the  Church,  passing 
through  the  lake  of  the  world,  has  at  times  been 
chilled  in  its  flow,  and  the  turbid  waters  on  either 
side  have  marred  its  transparency.  The  prudent 
man  will  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the  facts  of  history; 
heresies  and  schisms,  intrusions  of  the  civil  into 
the  spiritual,  and  of  the  spiritual  into  the  civil 
domain,  cruel  kings  making  of  the  Church's  doc- 
trine a  plaything,  and  lording  it  over  conscience, 
vile  men  filling  the  Church's  highest  offices  and 
betraying  her  sacred  rights.  The  history  is  again 
of  well-meaning  men,  weak  and  friendless,  sur- 
rounded by  the  prejudiced  and  inimical,  irresolute 
for  lack  of  precedent  to  guide  them  in  novel  cir- 

1  Reynold's  Law  of  Evidence  (Baltimore)  p.  7.  The  definition 
is  taken  from  Sir  James  Fitzjames  Stephen,  Introduction  to  the 
Indian  Evidence  Acts  of  1872,  p.  35. 


1 1 2  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

cumstances,  sometimes  erring  in  judgment, 
sometimes  making  undue  concession  to  the 
temper  of  the  age.  The  prudent  man  will  con- 
sent in  advance,  that  arrangements  of  expedien- 
cy, most  necessary  to  be  observed  for  the  peace 
and  order  of  the  Church,  are  matters  of  consent, 
not  necessarily  invariable  or  immutable,  but 
to  be  observed  in  the  spirit  rather  than  in  the 
letter,  in  unforseen  exigencies.  He  will  agree 
that  where  the  intent  was  to  do  the  right,  and 
where  substantial  principles  were  respected  and 
observed,  irregularities  of  form  and  method  may 
be  condoned,  and  defects  of  accuracy,  supple- 
mented or  cured  by  the  common  consent  of  all 
who  have  a  share  in  the  subject  matter. 

Bishop  Burnett  has  well  summed  up  the 
common-sense  view  of  the  matter  : 

"  The  Roman  empire,  though  a  great  body,  yet 
was  all  under  one  government,  and  therefore  all 
the  councils  that  were  held  while  that  empire 
stood,  are  to  be  considered  only  as  national  syn- 
ods, under  one  civil  policy.  The  Christians  of 
Persia,  India,  or  Ethiopia,  were  not  subject  to  the 
canons  made  by  them,  but  were  at  full  liberty  to 
make  rules  and  canons  for  themselves.  And  in 
the  primitive  times  we  see  a  vast   diversity   in 


The  Church  tJt  the  United  States  National.  1 1 3 

their  rules  and  rituals.  They  were  so  far  from 
imposing  general  rules  on  all,  that  they  left  the 
Churches  at  full  liberty  :  even  the  Council  of 
Nice  made  very  few  rules :  that  of  Constantino- 
ple and  Ephesus  made  fewer ;  and  though  the 
abuses  that  were  growing  in  the  fifth  century 
gave  occasion  to  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  to 
make  more  canons,  yet  the  number  of  these  is 
but  small :  so  that  the  tyranny  of  subjecting 
particular  Churches  to  laws  that  might  be  incon- 
venient for  them,  was  not  then  brought  into 
the  Church.  *     *     *     * 

"  But  now  that  the  Roman  empire  is  gone, 
and  that  all  the  laws  which  they  made  are  at  an 
end,  with  the  authority  that  made  them  ;  it  is  a 
vain  thing  to  pretend  to  keep  up  the  ancient 
dignities  of  sees ;  since  the  Foundation  upon 
which  that  was  built  is  sunk  and  gone.  Every 
empire,  kingdom,  or  state  is  an  entire  body 
within  itself.  The  magistrate  has  that  authority 
over  all  his  subjects,  that  he  may  keep  them  all  at 
home,  and  hinder  them  from  entering  into  any 
consultations  or  combinations,  but  such  as  shall 
be  under  his  direction  ;  he  may  require  the  pas- 
tors of  the  church  under  him  to  consult  together 
about  the  best  methods  for  carrying  on  the  ends 
8 


1 14  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

of  religion,  but  neither  he  nor  they  can  be  bound 
to  stay  for  the  concurrence  of  other  Churches. 
In  the  way  of  managing  this,  every  body  of  men 
has  somewhat  pecuHar  to  itself:  and  the  pastors 
of  that  body  are  the  properest  judges  in  that 
matter.  We  know  that  the  several  churches, 
even  while  under  one  empire,  had  great  varieties 
in  their  forms,  as  appears  in  the  different  prac- 
tices of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches  ;  and 
as  soon  as  the  Roman  empire  was  broken,  we 
see  this  variety  did  increase.  The  GalHcan 
churches  had  their  missals  different  from  the  Ro- 
man, and  some  churches  of  Italy  followed  the 
Ambrosian.  But  Charles  the  Great,  in  compli- 
ance with  the  desires  of  the  pope,  got  the  Gal- 
ilean churches  to  depart  from  their  own  missals, 
and  to  receive  the  Roman  ;  which  he  might  the 
rather  do,  intending  to  have  raised  a  new  empire 
to  which  a  conformity  of  rites  might  have  been 
a  great  step.  Even  in  this  church  there  was  a 
great  variety  of  usages,  which  perhaps  were  be- 
gun under  the  Heptarchy,  when  the  nation  was 
subdivided  into  several  kingdoms. 

"  It  is  therefore  suitable  to  the  nature  of  things, 
to  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  and  to  the 
obligations   of    the    pastoral   care,   that   every 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  1 1 5 

church  should  act  within  herself  as  an  entire  and 
independent  body.  The  Churches  owe  not  only 
a  friendly  and  brotherly  correspondence  to  one 
another,  but  they  owe  to  their  own  body  govern- 
ment and  direction,  and  such  provisions  and 
methods  as  are  most  likely  to  promote  the  great 
ends  of  religion,  and  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
society  both  in  Church  and  State.  Therefore  we 
are  no  other  way  bound  by  ancient  canons,  but 
as  the  same  reason  still  subsisting,  we  may  see 
the  same  cause  to  continue  them,  that  there 
was  at  first  to  make  them.  "  ^ 

In  view  of  alleged  irregularities,  Burnett  further 
observes  that  "  of  all  bodies  in  the  world,  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  the  worst  grace  to  re- 
proach us."  Brought  to  such  tests  as  she  would 
impose  on  others,  how  shall  she  defend  the  legi- 
timate transmission  of  the  Papacy  itself  through 
long  periods  of  strife  and  of  rival  claimants  to 
obedience?  Can  she  blot  out  the  records  of 
monsters  of  iniquity  who  purchased  the  tiara  for 
money,  and  shocked  the  world  by  their  vices  ? 
Can  she  reconcile  with  the  canon  of  Nice,  the 
orders  conferred  on  the  first  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more by  a  single  titular  Bishop  ? 

1  Burnett  on  Art.  xxxiv.  p.  490. 


ii6  Tlie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

VII.  Charitable  construction  has  its  place  in 
our  courts  of  law.  It  is  necessary  in  the  State 
of  Maryland,  to  the  validity  of  a  marriage,  that  it 
shall  have  been  duly  celebrated  by  a  minister  of 
religion.  But  when  people  have  spent  a  long 
life  together  as  man  and  wife,  in  good  repute, 
and  with  universal  recognition,  the  Courts  have 
determined  that  the  lawful  marriage  was  not  to 
be  disputed  because  through  accident  or  careless- 
ness, an  original  record  could  not  be  produced.^ 

Unmoved  then  by  particular  objections  grow- 
ing out  of  circumstances,  the  prudent  man  de- 
mands such  showing  as  shall  enable  him  to  rely 
with  moral  certainty  upon  those  things  which 
are  of  vital  importance.     He  sees  the  Archbish- 

'"  Where  parties  live  together  ostensibly  as  man  and  wife, 
demeaning  themselves  towards  each  other  as  such,  and  are 
i-eceived  into  society  and  treated  by  their  friends  and  relations 
as  having,  and  being  entitled  to  that  status,  the  law  will,  in 
favor  of  morality  and  decency,  presume  that  they  have  been 
legally  married." — Redgrave  vi.  Redgrave  Admin.,  j8  Mary- 
lattd,  gy. 

This  principle  is  urged  to  meet  any  possible  objection  by 
reason  of  the  absence  of  official  documents  touching  Consecra- 
tions and  the  like.  Hugh  Davey  Evans,  whose  works  exhaust 
the  questions  of  Anglican  Orders,  shows  that  the  very  assaults 
made  upon  them,  have  brought  to  light  an  overwhelming  mass 
of  documentary  evidence.  There  is  no  need  or  room  for  char- 
itable construction. 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  1 1 7 

op  of  Canterbury,  his  Suffragans,  and  the  Bish- 
ops of  the  Northern  Province,  occupying  sees 
for  twelve  hundred  years  without  any  rival  claim- 
ant, receiving  their  Episcopal  authority  in  strict 
accordance  with  rules  which  always  prevailed  for 
its  safe  transmission.  If  to  lack  the  confirmation 
of  the  Pope,  invalidates  such  transactions,  then 
we  have  no  standing.  But  if  that  be  not  neces- 
sary, if  it  lies  within  the  competence  of  the 
Bishops  of  a  Province  to  perpetuate  their  order 
and  to  supply  vacant  sees  within  provincial  lim- 
its, the  assurance  that  all  was  rightly  done, 
amounts  to  moral  certainty. 

And  so  also  of  the  hierarchy  of  the  American 
Church.  Consider  again  the  circumstances  of 
the  case.  A  new  country  breaks  the  political 
ties  which  bind  it  to  the  old  world.  Insuperable 
difficulties  are  in  the  way  of  the  assertion  by  the 
English  Church  of  continued  religious  authority. 
What  could  the  scattered  Churchmen  of  the  land 
do,  but  make  the  best  provisional  arrangements 
possible  at  the  moment,  repairing  quickly  to  the 
mother-land  for  the  gift  of  apostolic  authority  ? 
And  when  the  men  whom  they  proposed  were 
accepted  and  sent  back  with  the  full  benediction 
of  the  Church  across  the  sea,  without   a  cavil,  it 


1 1 8  The  CJmi'ch  iji  the  Nation. 

becomes  morally  certain  that  the  Church  of 
America  is  the  lawful  descendant  of  that  body 
which,  from  the  earliest  days,  under  many  vicis- 
situdes, has  been  the  representative  of  Christ  in 
Great  Britain. 

VI 11.  It  has  been  objected  against  the  American 
Church  that  it  has  put  in  brackets  an  article  of 
the  Apostles'  Creed. 

Scarcely  any  of  us  deny  that  this  was  a  mis- 
take. Many  are  rejoicing  in  the  expectation 
that  it  will  presently  be  repaired.  Even  in  this 
single  point  of  view,  we  look  with  eager  longing 
to  the  action  of  the  General  Convention  of  1886. 
God  forbid  that  results  so  valuable,  should  be  en- 
dangered, perhaps  lost,  through  failure  to  recog- 
nize an  unlocked  for  opportunity,  on  the  con- 
tinuance of  which  none  may  safely  count.  May 
those  who  have  long  been  distressed  at  this  one 
signal  error  of  those  to  whom  we  owe  the  pro- 
foundest  debt  of  gratitude,  be  privileged  without 
delay  to  see  this  blot  removed. 

But  while  we  confess  a  mistake,  let  us  not  ex- 
aggerate it.  The  Church  has  not  fallen  into  here- 
sy. It  has  not  equivocated  concerning  the  two 
natures  united  in  the  one  Christ.  It  has  not  de- 
nied the    Descent   into   Hell.     The    theological 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  119 

statements  of  Art.  ii.  and  iii.  are  as  precise  as 
those  of  the  Athanasian  formula.  In  several  of 
the  Offices,  the  Apostles'  Creed  is  recited  in  full. 
Only  through  a  fear  of  misapprehension,  this 
modification  has,  in  vague  and  uncertain  rubric, 
been  made  permissive  in  the  recital  on  occasion 
of  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer. 

Let  the  Church  be  faulted,  if  you  will,  for  tim- 
idity and  unwisdom.  But  charity  apart,  it  is 
most  unjust  to  charge  heresy,  when  none  had  it 
in  mind  to  deny  the  truth  involved. 

It  rests  upon  the  same  grounds  of  excuse,  if 
not  of  justification,  as  the  addition  of  the  Filioque. 
Particular  Churches,  holding  the  same  faith,  have, 
without  evil  intent,  modified  the  phrases  in  which 
it  is  expressed.  That  the  Father  is  the  Fount 
of  Divinity,  none  intended  to  deny,  although  the 
nature  of  the  Procession,  and  of  the  mission  of 
the  Comforter  has  been  variously  expressed. 
IX.  It  is  said  that  in  accepting  the  title  of  Protes- 
tant Episcopal,  we  have  virtually  surrendered 
all  claim  to  be  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  United 
States. 

We  do  not  deny  the  potency  of  a  name.  Most 
desirable  is  it  that  the  name,  like  the  title  to  an 
act  of  Congress,  should  express  in  the  concisest 


120  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

and  most  definite  words  the  quality  of  tliat  which 
it  describes.  But  the  failure  of  the  name  fully 
to  describe  the  thing,  does  not  destroy  it. 

All  the  world  knows  that  in  the  most  solemn 
offices  we  make  profession  of  our  belief  in  one 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church.  To  convert 
our  corporate  designation  into  a  denial  of  an  ar- 
ticle of  faith  is  simply  unreasonable.  The  Bish- 
op of  Western  New  York,  in  his  report  to  the 
House  of  Bishops,  in  1883,  has  cited  ample  au- 
thority and  precedent  for  the  use  of  a  designation 
other  than  Catholic,  as  a  specific  title,  by  Church- 
es venerable  and  wide-spread.  How  came  we 
by  this  designation  ? 

On  the  9th  of  November,  1780,  while  the  war 
of  Independence  was  in  progress,  there  was  held 
in  Chestertown,  Maryland,  now  within  the  limits 
of  the  diocese  of  Easton,  the  first  of  those  con- 
sultations which  had  in  view  the  organizing  of 
the  scattered  fragments  of  the  Church.  It  was 
convened  at  the  instance  of  Dr.  Smith,  the  first 
Bishop-elect  of  Maryland,  well-known  for  his  ac- 
tivity and  influence  in  drafting  the  Ecclesiastical 
Constitution  and  in  revising  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer.  The  name  "  Protestant  Episcopal  " 
seems  to  have  been  there  accepted.    This  primary 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  1 2 1 

meeting  at  Chestertown  was  followed  by  several 
others.  In  May,  1783,  an  address  was  issued  to 
"  the  members  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  Maryland,"  and  in  August,  1783,  before  peace 
was  finally  concluded,  the  Convention  set  forth 
"  a  Declaration  of  certain  Fundamental  Rights 
and  Liberties  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  Maryland."  ' 

The  name  thus  introduced  was  accepted  by 
common  consent.  In  1784  numerous  petitions 
came  up  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia, 
asking  for  an  "Act  to  incorporate  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia."  " 

At  the  Council,  preliminary  to  a  General  Con- 
vention, held  in  New  Brunswick  in  October,  1784, 
the  delegates  from  eight  states  agreed  that  "there 
should  be  a  General  Convention  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church  in  the  United  States,"  but  thereafter, 
the  prefix  of  Protestant  constantly  appears. 

The  use  of  this  name  was  not  confined  to  our- 
selves. In  the  correspondence,  as  far  back  as 
1782,  of  Dr.    George    Berkeley,   described    by 

1  Reprint  of  Maryland  Convention  Journals  appended  to 
Journal  of  1856.  See  particulars  in  article  of  Rev.  F.  Gibson, 
Church  Review,  Jan.  1885. 

"^  Hawks'  Hist,  of  Virginia,  p.  157. 


The  Church  in  the  Nation. 


Wilberforce  as  the  "  eldest  son  of  the  great  Bish- 
op Berkeley,  the  heir  of  his  father's  virtues  and 
of  his  interest  in  the  welfare  of  America,"  he  urg- 
ed the  Scottish  Bishops  that  "  a  most  important 
good  might  ere  long  be  derived  to  the  suffering 
and  nearly  neglected  sons  of  Protestant  Episco- 
pac)^  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  from  the 
suffering  Church  of  Scotland."  ^ 

It  seems,  then,  that  in  a  day  of  confusion  and 
uncertainty,  when  the  name  of  the  Church  of 
England,  previously  borne,  was  at  once  obsolete 
and  practically  odious,  when  greedy  men  stood 
ready,  as  presently  they  succeeded  in  Virginia,  to 
strip  the  Church  bare  of  her  possessions,  it  be- 
came necessary  to  adopt  a  name  under  which 
suitable  acts  of  Incorporation  might  be  secured 
from  the  civil  authority.  It  needs  no  argument 
to  show  what  a  storm  of  prejudice  would  have 
been  aroused  had  a  body  of  Christians,  so  few  in 
numbers,  and  by  their  own  confession,  lacking 
in  the  present  the  power  of  self-perpetuation,  de- 
manded of  the  State  to  be  recognized  as  "  the 
Church  of  the  United  States."  I  dare  not  fault 
those  pioneers  in  an  untried  way,  for  consenting 
to  accept  a  name  which  sufficiently  distinguished 
>  Wilberforce's  Hist.  American  Church,  Ch.  vi.  p.  149. 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  123 

them  from  other  reh'gious  bodies,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law,  while  they  erased  not  one  syl- 
lable from  the  formularies  which  committed  them 
to  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church,  one  and 
undivided. 

The  chief  object  of  these  LECTURES  is  to  urge 
that  this  Church  has  resting  upon  her  the  awful 
responsibility  of  being  our  Lord's  accredited  rep- 
resentative to  the  people  of  this  land.  Here  may 
we  stand,  as  an  anvil  when  it  is  beaten  upon. 
Whether  it  is  best  to  force  from  the  lips  of  men 
indifferent,  or  in  a  sense  hostile,  a  style  of  address 
whereof  they  deny  the  suitableness  ;  whether  it  is 
wise  to  endanger  the  tenure  of  our  property  in 
a  thousand  courts  of  law,  and  to  throw  away  a 
name  of  which  the  history  of  a  century  has  giv- 
en us  no  cause  to  be  ashamed  ;  a  name,  which,  if 
it  be  discarded  by  ourselves,  would  presently  be 
gladly  caught  up,  and  proudly  displayed  else- 
where, let  the  wise  among  us  determine. 

Bacon's  words  seem  rightly  to  apply  to  us  : . 

"  Preserve  the  rights  of  thy  place,  but  stir  not 
questions  of  jurisdiction  :  and  rather  assume  thy 
right  in  silence  and  de-facto,  than  voice  it  with 
claims  and  challenges."  ' 

1  Essay  of  Great  Place. 


124  T^fi'C  Church  in  the  Natio7t. 

At  a  time  when  by  reason  of  civil  war,  the 
Southern  dioceses  had  need  to  dehberate  apart, 
this  question  of  the  Church's  name  was  largely 
discussed.  Bishop  Meade,  while  not  dissenting 
from  other  Bishops  on  the  substantial  questions 
involved,  suggested  considerations  which  de- 
serve to  be  put  on  record.  He  reminded  us 
that  names,  being  designed  to  preserve  identity, 
and  to  secure  recognition,  may  now  express  the 
essence  and  now  the  accidents  of  that  which  is 
intended  to  be  described. 

Thus,  to  produce  the  most  illustrious  of 
precedents,  Almighty  God  made  Himself  known 
to  Moses  under  a  name  which  affirms  the  Abso- 
lute and  the  Self-Existent.    "  I  AM  THAT  I  AM." 

And  yet  He  consented  to  be  known  as  God 
in  history,  and  to  borrow  a  name  from  mortals, 
so  that  men  might  know  Him  and  address  Him 
as  "The  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob." 

So  also  have  men  acquired  new  designations 
borrowed  from  their  history.  Thus  Scipio  be- 
came Africanus,  and  Saul,  after  the  conversion  of 
Sergius  Paulus,  bscomes  Paul,  according  to  the 
more  obvious  (although  by  no  means  certain) 
explanation  of  the  change  in  nomenclature  which 
begins  with  Acts  xiii. 


The  Church  in  the  United  States  National.  125 

In  point  of  fact,  this  Church,  continuous  with 
the  Church  of  England,  has  protested  and  still 
protests  against  the  claims  of  a  Universal  Pon- 
tiff, against  unwarrantable  additions  to  the  Faith, 
against  grave  errors  in  doctrine  and  discipline, 
concerning  which  it  was  impossible  to  be  silent. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  been  our  lot,  at 
great  cost  and  sacrifice,  under  many  difficul- 
ties and  disadvantages,  involving  a  century  of 
growth  repressed,  of  scandals  and  disorders 
for  want  of  authoritative  discipline,  to  testify 
to  the  divine  order  of  the  Sacred  Ministry. 

It  is  no  disgrace  to  us,  that  these,  the  most 
salient  features  in  the  history  of  centuries,  have 
become  emblazoned  on  the  Church's  crest  and 
enter  into  men's  definition  of  her. 

To  be  convinced  on  reasonable  grounds  that 
this  Church  is,  in  this  nation,  the  legitimate  and 
accredited  representative  of  the  Church  of  the 
Ages  and  of  her  Head,  is  enough  to  solemnize  and 
even  appal  those  who  accept  a  commission  from 
her.  It  needs  not  to  number  the  people.  Nu- 
merical inferiority  does  not  discharge  us  of  our 
trust.  God  sends  us  forth  to  speak  and  to  do  in 
His  behalf  Methinks  I  hear  Him  giving  to  this 
National  Church,  that  same  weighty  charge  which 


126  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

is  addressed  to  the  individual  priest  within  his 
limited  cure  of  souls.  "  See  that  ye  never  cease 
your  labor,  your  care  and  diligence,  until  ye 
have  done  all  that  lieth  in  you,  according  to  your 
bounden  duty,  to  bring  all  such  as  are  or  shall 
be  committed  to  your  charge,  unto  that  agree- 
ment in  the  faith  and  knowledge  of  God,  and  to 
that  ripeness  and  perfectness  of  age  in  Christ, 
that  there  be  no  place  left  among  you,  either  for 
error  in  religion  or  for  viciousness  of  life." 


LECTURE    IV. 

The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Own  Chil- 
dren AND  Her  Own  People. 


LECTURE    IV. 

THE   CHURCH'S  DUTY  TO  HER  OWN  CHILDREN 
AND  HER  OWN  PEOPLE. 

"Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the 
Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it." — Coloss.  iv.  17. 

TDISHOP  WORDSWORTH,  briefly  com- 
^^  ments  on  this  saying :  "  This  is  an  example 
of  Paul's  prudence  in  government.  He  gives  a 
public  command  to  the  Pastor  to  do  his  duty  to 
the  flock  :  and  thus  he  also  commands  the  flock  to 
recognize  and  obey  their  Pastor." — Theophyl. 

There  can  be  no  true  responsibility  without 
adequate  powers :  no  right  to  govern  without  a 
correlative  duty  to  obey. 

Proposing  in  the  remainder  of  these  Lectures, 
to  make  practical  application  of  the  great  princi- 
ples of  ecclesiastical  authority,  I  desire  to  remind 
you  that  we  cannot  sever  the  Rights  and  Powers 
of  a  National  Church  from  her  Duties  and  Re- 
sponsibilities. Neither  can  we  speak  of  these 
9  129 


130  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

attributes  cf  the  authority  that  governs  without 
due  regard  to  the  Hberties  and  privileges,  the 
accountability  and  obligations  of  those  who  are 
governed. 

Keeping  all  these  in  view,  let  me  endeavor  to 
present,  one  after  another,  some  of  the  great 
trusts  confided  to  the  Church,  and  the  rights  and 
duties  consequent  thereon. 

II.  The  Church  is  in  the  Nation,  a  city  set  on 
an  hill,  that  cannot  be  hid,  a  candlestick,  light- 
diffusing  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house.  If 
its  brightness  be  obscured,  God's  pilgrims 
must  grope  uncertainly  ;  and  if  the  light  that  is 
in  it  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness  ! 

In  approaching  this  subject,  I  have  been  glad- 
dened by  the  recent  utterance  of  a  Virginia  lay- 
man that  "  he  believes  the  Church  he  loves  to  be 
the  Power  ordained  of  God  for  the  conservation 
of  religion,  and  the  stability  of  public  virtue  on 
this  continent."  ^  He  adopts  and  applies  to  the 
Church  of  his  allegiance,  words  of  Burke  con- 
cerning the  Church  of  England :  "  I  would  have 
her  a  common  blessing  to  the  world  :  an  exam- 
ple, if  not  an  instructor,  to  all  who  have  not  the 
happiness  to  belong  to  her.     I  would  have  her 

'  Hon.  H.  W.  Sheffey,  in  Church  Review,  Oct.  1884. 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Oivn  People.    131 

give  a  lesson  of  peace  to  mankind,  that  a  vexed 
and  wandering  generation  may  be  taught  to 
seek  repose  in  the  maternal  bosom  of  her  Chris- 
tian Charity." 

Our  national  responsibility  is  not  indeed  un- 
divided. A  majority  of  the  people  prefer  to  ren- 
der allegiance  elsewhere,  and  there  is  no  open 
door  by  which  we  can  approach  them.  We  pre- 
tend no  exclusive  possession  of  intelligence  and 
learning,  of  benevolence  and  zeal,  of  moral  ex- 
cellence and  Christian  virtue.  If  I  omit,  in  this 
connection,  mention  of  the  great  religious  bodies 
in  the  land,  and  of  our  duty  towards  them,  or  by 
reason  of  them,  it  is  in  order  to  reserve  the  sub- 
ject for  specific  discussion. 

In  the  nature  of  things  we  must  at  times  fasten 
our  gaze,  on  scenes  in  the  history  of  the  world 
and  of  the  Church,  which  are  far  from  lovely. 
We  wander  amid  perplexities  and  lose  ourselves 
in  discussions  unedifying,  if  not  frivolous. 

But  there  comes  a  time  to  the  faithful  student 
and  thinker,  when  he  reaches  the  summit  of  as- 
sured results  :  when  by  reason  of  the  elevation 
on  which  he  stands,  the  garden  of  the  Lord  is 
seen  in  its  gracious  configuration,  unshadowed 
by   the    monuments  of  man's   wickedness   and 


132  The  Chirch  in  the  Nation. 

weakness,  watered  by  a  pure  river,  parted  into 
the  four  heads  of  ApostoHc  Doctrine,  and  Fellow- 
ship, and  Prayers,  and  Sacraments;  and  permeat- 
ing all  the  earth. 

In  the  midst  of  a  nation  whose  growth  within 
a  century  transcends  all  precedent,  we  see  a 
Church  organized  under  various  pastors,  unique 
in  her  characteristics  and  with  the  stamp  of  royal 
lineage  on  her  brow. 

She  clasps  to  her  bosom  the  roll  of  Sacred 
Scriptures,  indited  by  those  who  were  moved  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  but  does  not  hoard  them  there. 
For  she  is  ever  displaying  them  before  the  eyes 
of  men,  bidding  them  to  hear  and  read,  to  mark 
and  learn,  and  inwardly  digest.  And  because 
some  are  slow  to  learn,  and  may  be  confused  by 
reason  of  the  multiplicity  of  the  revelations,  she 
has  accepted  from  the  hand  of  Moses  the  tablets 
of  the  Law  ;  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  the  formula  of 
devotion  ;  and  from  the  undivided  world-wide 
Church,  the  confession  of  the  Faith;  inscribing 
these  on  the  background  of  her  altars,  as  the 
Agenda,  Precanda,  Credenda  of  all  Christian 
souls. 

She  bears  in  her  hand  a  sceptre  of  authority. 
This  pastoral  staff,  is  one  with  that  delivered  by 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.   133 

our  Lord  to  the  foreman  of  the  ApostoHc  College, 
multiplied,  like  the  consecrated  loaves,  but  never 
newly-invented,  her  own  peculiar  investiture  sep- 
arate but  not  divided  from  the  insignia  which 
mark  the  universal  Church  of  God.  That  sceptre 
was  delivered  by  Apostolic  hands  to  the  mission- 
aries who  penetrated  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the 
West,  and  evangelized  the  rude  peoples  out  of 
whose  commingling,  sprang  the  English  nation. 
Times  there  were,  when  despite  continuous  pro- 
test, it  was,  so  to  speak,  suppressed  by  those  who 
claimed  for  one  Bishop  absolute  sovereignty 
over  his  fellows,  instead  of  a  Primacy  of  honor, 
which  they  were  ready  to  concede.  Times  there 
were,  when  it  was  draped  in  mourning  for  the 
pride  of  those  who  bare  it,  or  when  it  was  thrust 
into  a  corner  by  the  insolence  of  the  great.  But 
through  all  vicissitudes  it  v/as  never  surrendered 
or  lost;  and  when  the  children  had  migrated  and 
builded  them  houses  beyond  the  sea,  the  spirit- 
ual mother  endowed  the  daughter  with  the  cre- 
dentials and  badges  of  authority,  necessary  to  the 
fulfilling  here  of  a  ministry  identical  in  all  essen- 
tials with  that  which  belonged  to  herself  at  home. 
The  vesture  by  which  men  are  wont  to  recog- 
nize her  is  the  adornment  of  saintly  formula  and 


134  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

ceremony,  whereof  the  warp  and  woof  are 
the  golden  and  silver  threads  of  Scripture  and  of 
ancient  liturgy.  Demand  of  her,  her  mission:  and 
you  shall  see  her  taking  to  her  breast  some  little 
child  cast  out  into  the  open  field  to  die,  and 
breathing  upon  it  with  a  new  name,  the  assurance 
of  a  new  adoption  :  you  shall  see  her  extending  to 
men  exhausted  by  life's  battle  the  bread  and  wine 
of  spiritual  refreshment,  and  with  it  the  blessed 
hope  that  the  Lord  will  presently  appear  to  ad- 
mit her  and  her  children  to  the  Marriage  Supper 
of  the  Lamb. 

If  it  be  so,  that  the  commission,  the  doctrine, 
the  sacraments  committed  to  our  dispensation 
are  in  all  essentials  identical  with  those  com- 
mitted to  Archippus  in  the  Lord  :  if  the  fel- 
lowship stands  unimpaired  by  any  revolt  against 
lawful  authority,  any  anathema  hurled  against 
other  churches,  any  arbitrary  exaction  of  terms 
of  communion  :  if  our  mission  here,  is  in  strict 
accord  with  ancient  canons  and  usages,  with  the 
conventions  of  human  prudence  and  in  the  just 
ordering  of  Divine  providence,  then  does  this 
Church  possess  a  ministry  which  must  be  ful- 
filled to  the  Nation  and  to  the  individuals  who 
compose  it :    a  ministry  which  we  may  not  de- 


TJlc  C lucre  lis  Duty  to  Her  Ozvii  People.   135 

volve  on  others,  however  they  be  personally- 
worthy  :  a  ministry  from  which  we  may  not  shrink 
appalled  by  the  seeming  odds  against  us. 

If  God's  pure  word  be  in  our  hands  and  on  our 
lips,  and  His  anointing  oil  upon  our  brows,  yea, 
if  the  prophetic  mantle  of  Him  who  was  taken 
up  into  heaven  has  fallen  upon  us,  we  need  not 
cry  "  Alas  !  Master,  what  shall  we  do  ?"  It  is  di- 
vine illumination  rather  than  human  reinforce- 
ment that  we  need.  The  mountains  that  seem 
to  hem  us  in,  are  even  now  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about  us. 

Shall  it  be  said  that  this  assertion  of  authority 
to  guide  and  govern  the  souls  of  men,  an  author- 
ity resting  on  a  divine  commission,  and  in  no 
wise  impaired  by  the  fact  that  the  many  know 
not  of  it,  or  deny  it,  or  deride  it,  shall  it  be  said, 
that  it  tends  to  promote  in  us  Pharisaism  and 
spiritual  pride  ? 

The  danger  is  far  from  unreal.  The  vessel  with 
all  sails  set,  clad  from  deck  to  top- mast  with 
snow-white  canvas  and  bright  pennons,  may  ca- 
reen and  founder  at  the  breath  of  prosperity. 
She  must  be  full  ballasted  as  well.  Privilege 
needs  always  a  counterpoise,  and  the  all-sufficing 
corrective  of  spiritual  elation,  is  the  sense   of  re- 


136  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

sponsibility.  In  the  moment  when  we  begin  to 
magnify  ourselves  by  reason  of  dignity  of  office 
and  mission,  we  do  most  effectually  disable  our- 
selves for  the  right  discharge  of  such  high  func- 
tions. 

III.  The  sphere  of  our  activities  is,  then,  co-ex- 
tensive with  the  limits  of  the  nation.  It  were  a 
poor  ambition  to  occupy  the  fat  valleys,  and 
crown  lofty  summits  with  our  Churches.  We 
should  crave  instead,  the  blessing  of  those  who 
sow  beside  all  waters  and  send  forth  thither  the 
feet  of  patient  toilers.  While  we  do  not  neglect 
the  rich,  the  cultivated,  the  noble,  remembering 
that  Joanna  wife  of  Chuza,  Herod's  steward,  and 
Nicodemus,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  contributed 
an  influence  of  wealth  and  position  which  poor 
fishermen  could  not  render,  Ave  must  remember 
that  our  Lord's  compassion  is  for  the  multitude : 
there  must  ever  ring  in  our  ears  His  injunction, 
'•  Give  ye  them  to  eat."  We  must  not  yield  to 
incredulity  because  the  multitude  is  counted  by 
thousands,  and  that  a  careless  glance  at  our  re- 
sources shows  that  in  the  order  of  nature  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  supply  so  great  a  need. 

In  the  Dioceses  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  by 
concurrence  of  law,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  there 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Ozun  People.   137 

is  a  territorial  distribution,  so  exact,  that  every 
dwelling  is  within  a  cure  bounded  by  geograph- 
ical lines.  Within  such  bounds  each  Curate  (us- 
ing that  word  in  the  sense  of  old  canons)  is  re- 
sponsible, for  no  other  Priest  is  at  liberty  to  ob- 
trude save  at  his  invitation.' 

In  one  such  parish  there  is  a  valuable  glebe 
purchased  in  1696,  adequate  to  the  support  of  a 
Rector.  In  the  progress  of  the  well-known  ec- 
clesiastical decay  and  the  almost  universal  ac- 
ceptance of  Methodism  by  descendants  of 
Church-of-England  men,  the  ministration  shrank 
into  the  chaplaincy  of  some  eighteen  families. 

In  the  day  of  revival,  when  it  was  proposed  to 
rebuild  and  enlarge  the  Parish  Church,  and  to 
erect  a  Chapel  at  a  centre  of  population,  objec- 
tions were  preferred  by  some  who  clung  to  early 
associations,  and  who  counted  all  change  as  vex- 
atious innovation.  But  the  Vestry  were  men  ac- 
cessible to  the  appeal  of  justice.  It  was  argued, 
and  with  success,  here  is  a  parish  bounded  by 
well-known  streams  and  by  the  State-line  of  Del- 

>  Provision  is  made  also  for  separate  congregations,  without 
territory.  Thus,  the  Parish  of  St.  Paul's  embraces  the  city  of 
Baltimore.  Grace,  Christ,  St.  Peter's  and  others,  are  Churches, 
not  Parishes. 


138  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

aware,  of  whose  religious  interests  the  Rector 
and  Vestry  are  the  guardians  :  and  this  glebe  is 
held  by  them  in  trust  for  the  use  and  benefit  of 
every  individual  within  these  bounds  who  will 
accept  the  Church's  ministrations. 

Let  the  small  illustrate  the  great.  The  com- 
mission of  the  Catholic  Church  is  to  make  dis- 
ciples of  the  nations — all  of  the  nations;  and  in  the 
partition  of  duties  the  task  confided  to  this  Na- 
tional Church  is,  Evangelize  this  nation.  The 
spiritual  riches  committed  to  us,  more  precious 
than  houses  and  lands,  are  held  by  us  in  trust, 
not  only  to  be  applied  to  such  as  claim  a  share 
therein,  but  to  be  freely  offered  to  such  as  need  it, 
though  all  unknowing  of  that  need.  In  a  word, 
our  ministry  in  the  Lord  may  not  be  fulfilled, 
unless  in  its  plan  and  ultimate  purpose,  it  aims 
to  afford  to  all  the  people  of  the  land,  opportu- 
nity to  become  partners  with  us.  We  find  in 
these  considerations,  incentives  to  liberality  and 
to  missionary  activity,  duties  which  are  constant- 
ly enforced  from  all  our  pulpits,  and  which  we 
need  not  here  expound.  There  is,  however,  an- 
other class  of  duties  which  in  our  day  thrust 
themselves  upon  the  thoughtful,  as  of  the  pro- 
foundest  interest  :  I  mean  the  duty  of  Adapta- 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.    139 

tion,  of  Enterprise,  of  Religious   Inventiveness. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  mighti- 
est engines  expend  their  powers  in  vain,  unless 
adapted  to  the  work  undertaken.  Agriculture 
itself  is  no  longer  remunerative  unless  industry- 
is  guided  by  ingenuity.  Hard  thinking  is  as 
necessary  as  hard  work  to  the  success  of  Pastor, 
Bishop,  Diocese,  or  National  Church.  St.  Barna- 
bas was  endued  "  with  singular  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;"  and  we  pray,  "  Leave  us  not,  we  be- 
seech thee,  destitute  of  thy  manifold  gifts."  But 
the  Collect  teaches  us  that  gifts  singular  and 
manifold  may  be  profitless  for  want  of  added 
grace  :  "  grace  to  use  them  alway  to  God's  hon- 
or and  glory." 

When  it  becomes  manifest,  after  fair  experi- 
ment, that  our  work  is  partial  and  sporadic,  and 
that  our  spiritual  forces  are  expended  before 
reaching  tl.e  confines  of  "  black  countries,"  where 
they  should  be  in  most  active  operation  :  when 
the  habit  of  punctual  and  dutiful  attendance  on 
public  worship  is  seen  to  be  on  the  wane :  when 
plain  indications  suggest  the  apprehension  that 
many  of  our  communicants  are  deficient  in  relig- 
ious sensibility  as  in  religious  knowledge,  decor- 
ous rather  than  devout,  while  the    fragrance  of 


140  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

saintliness  little  pervades  their  homes,  it  is  not 
well  for  us  to  disclaim  responsibility.  We  may 
not  rail  at  obtuseness  and  perversity.  We  may 
not  wash  our  hands  of  them,  and  say.  It  is  not  the 
Church's  fault :  if  they  cared  to  seek,  they  would 
find ;  if  they  would  knock,  the  doors  would  fly 
open  to  them. 

No  :  it  is  in  the  very  nature  of  our  task  to  over- 
come indifference,  to  break  down  the  barriers  of 
prejudice,  to  compel  men  to  come  in,  who  are 
prompt  to  excuse  themselves.  And  where  we 
discern  notable  defect  and  failure,  it  behooves  us 
to  suspect  the  adaptation  of  our  methods  or  our 
skill  in  using  them. 

The  question  has  been  lately  raised  whether 
the  Reformation  is  to  be  taken  as  a  finality.' 
Doctrine  and  essential  order  apart,  there  can  be 
but  one  answer  to  this  inquiry.  No  National 
Church  can  meet  its  responsibilities  by  working 
in  the  lines  of  a  mere  inheritance.  New  prob- 
lems are  presented  as  civilization  progresses  and 
as  changes  occur  in  things  political  and  social. 
Much  room  is  there  among  us  for  that  heaven- 
taught  prudence  which  some  call   worldly   wis- 

'  Correspondence  between  the  Presiding  Bishop  and  the  Bishop 
Assistant  of  New  York. 


The  ChiircJis  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.   141 

dom.  We  need  not  shrink  from  the  introduction 
of  agencies  supplemental  to  those  with  which  we 
are  familiar.  Ancient  ones,  long  disused,  may- 
be revived  ;  only,  we  devoutly  hope,  under  such 
safeguards  as  experience  has  shown  to  be  neces- 
sary in  order  to  save  them  from  abuse.  And 
new  ones  will  be  devised  under  pressing  exigen- 
cies where  precedents  are  not  available. 

Guilds,  Sisterhoods,  Brotherhoods  and  Orders, 
under  special  rules  of  life  :  lay  teachers,  out-of- 
door  sermons,  musical  services  and  services  for 
preaching  only,  are  auxiliaries  to  be  welcomed 
and  to  be  fairly  tested.  Only,  in  the  name  of 
decency  and  order,  let  all  be  done  within  the 
limits  of  canonical  permission.  Let  us  not  sever 
ourselves  from  the  Bishop,  who  is  the  centre  of 
unity,  and  defiantly  ignore  his  right  to  oversee, 
in  all  that  concerns  the  reputation  and  efficiency 
of  the  Church. 

IV.  While  the  Church  has  no  special  privileges 
to  demand  from  the  State,  nor  meddles  with  its 
civil  rule,  she  must  not  truckle  to  the  State,  nor 
surrender  her  rights,  nor  hesitate  to  exercise  her 
moral  influence. 

It  would  seem  sometimes  as  if  belief  in  any- 
thing sufficed  to  disfranchise  men  :  as  if  all  leg- 


142  TJie  Chuj'ch  in  the  Nation. 

islation  should  be  in  the  interest  of  those  who 
beheve  nothing.  Combinations  of  capitaHsts 
and  workers  largely  characterize  the  age.  Rail- 
road Corporations,  Manufacturers  who  have 
goods  in  bond,  Brewers,  and  Cloak- makers  ' 
even,  insist  that  they  have  rights  which  de- 
serve to  be  respected.  Let  not  Christian  men 
hesitate  to  demand  that  some  consideration  is 
due  to  their  Christianity.  A  firm  and  mod- 
est self-assertion  befits  the  Church  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  State.  It  limits  the  ringing  of 
our  Church  bells  when  neighbors  are  thereby 
annoyed,  and  we  bow  to  the  mandate  of  the 
Court.  But  we  may  in  turn  urge  a  considera- 
tion for  ourselves,  when  our  neighbors  demand 
a  license,  destructive  to  a  life  of  Christian  quiet 
and  decency. 

It  has  been  hard  for  us  to  realize  that  the  State 
has  no  more  power  to  coerce  the  Church  in 
things  spiritual,  than  the  Church  the  State  in 
temporals.  A  notable  instance  is  in  the  matter 
of  Divorce.  It  used  to  be  held,  and  the  super- 
stition still  lingers,  that  where  a  divorce  has  been 

1  "  Cloak-makers  have  been  invited  to  appear  next  Friday 
before  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means."— ^a//.  Sun,  Jan. 
i8(h,  /SSj. 


The  Chiirclis  Duty  to  Her  Ozun  People.    143 

decreed  by  a  civil  court,  we  may  not  go  behind 
that  record,  or  originate  an  investigation.  It  is 
not  pretended  that  we  can  disturb  the  question 
of  civil  rights,  of  legitimacy  and  of  inheritance, 
thus  determined  by  the  proper  tribunal.  But 
that  which  we  yield,  we  in  turn  demand.  Let 
not  the  civil  courts  meddle  with  the  Church  when 
she  refuses  her  countenance  to  any  persons  di- 
vorced contrary  to  God's  Word. 

In  this  particular  the  Church  has  most  distinct- 
ly asserted  herself.  Why  is  it  that  action  so  em- 
phatic is  so  commonly  unknown,  and  a  law  so 
definite  occasionally  disregarded  ?  Scandals 
which  have  put  us  all  to  the  blush  would  have 
been  avoided,  if  the  Clergy  observed  the  canon 
of  Marriage  and  Divorce.  It  is  most  explicit  in 
two  particulars.  If  any  person  applies  to  be 
baptized,  confirmed,  communicated  or  married, 
and  there  is  "  reasonable  cause  to  doubt  "  whether 
such  person  "  has  been  married  otherwise  than 
as  the  Word  of  God  and  discipline  of  this  Church 
allow,"  the  Priest  to  whom  such  application  is 
made,  is  forbidden  to  determine  it.  He  must  re- 
fer it  to  the  Bishop  "for  his  godly  judgment 
thereupon." 

And  again,  if  the  facts  in  the  case  be  disputed, 


144  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

the  Bishop,  untrammelled  by  the  decision  of  any- 
civil  court,  or  by  the  ostensible  causes  for  divorce 
assigned  in  any  civil  procedure,  is  at  liberty  to 
institute  his  own  original  investigation  into  the 
facts,  "  in  such  manner  as  he  shall  deem  expedi- 
ent;" whether  in  person,  by  commissary,  or  by 
commission.  In  the  result,  he  delivers  "his 
judgment  in  the  promises,"  a  judgment  as  bind- 
ing in  religion,  as  is  that  of  the  Common  Law 
Judge  in  civil  rights. 

V.  I  proceed  now  to  consider  the  Duty  of  the 
Church  to  her  own  Baptized  Children.  The 
most  important  particulars  of  this  duty  are  also 
the  most  obvious.  I  need  not  here  enlarge  upon 
those  characteristics  which  enter  into  the  very 
definition  of  a  Church,  viz.,  that  therem  "the 
pure  Word  of  God  is  preached,  and  the  Sacra- 
ments be  duly  ministered,  according  to  Christ's 
ordinance." 

It  becomes  the  Church  to  recognize  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,  and  to  re- 
spect the  Christian  manhood  of  her  children.  If 
uniform  and  mechanical  obedience  to  precepts 
were  the  true  ideal  of  Christian  living,  the  end 
might  be  gained  by  the  stat  voluntas  pro  ratione 
of  ecclesiastical  absolutism.     The  kingdom   of 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.   145 

Christ  is  an  empire  over  human  will  and  affection, 
and  through  these,  over  human  actions.  In  its 
purview,  faith  and  obedience  are  the  free  acts  of 
cheerful  givers,  while  unbelief  and  disobedience 
are  criminal  only,  when  they  are  deliberate  re- 
volt against  a  manifested  authority.  We  are  to 
deal,  in  our  ministrations,  with  responsible  men 
and  not  with  unreasoning  babes.  Little  would 
be  gained  could  we,  so  to  speak,  inoculate  others 
with  our  own  convictions.  But  when  by  mani- 
festation of  the  truth,  by  sound  words  which  can- 
not be  condemned,  we  win  men  to  righteous- 
ness, ours  is  a  substantial  victory.  Hence  the 
vanity  of  all  sumptuary  laws  ;  for  while  law  re- 
strains from  crime  it  is  utterly  impotent  to 
make  men  good.  Hence  the  worthlessness  of  all 
spiritual  confession  and  direction,  which  in  any- 
wise impair  the  sense  of  individual  responsibility 
for  the  diligent  keeping  of  the  man's  own  heart. 
The  truest  security  for  the  liberties  of  the  lay- 
man, is  to  be  found  in  the  accepted  principle, 
that  it  is  the  inalienable  right  of  every  Christian 
man  to  approach  the  sacrament,  who  does  not 
interpose  a  bar.  We  may  be  dubious  of  his  in- 
tegrity and  grieved  by  reason  of  his  unspiritual- 
ness,  and  we  may  admonish,  warn  and  caution 
10 


146  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

him  without  exceeding  our  authority  :  but  the 
sacrament  may  not  be  denied  him,  if  he  insist 
on  coming,  save  for  cause  of  avowed  unbehef 
or  evident  evil-hving. 

John  Inglesant,  in  the  well-known  religious 
romance,  is  represented  as  finding,  after  long  ex- 
periment of  things  Anglican  and  Roman,  this 
characteristic  and  vital  distinction  between  the 
two  systems.  "  The  Jesuits  do  not  like  Plato. 
*  *  ^  Aristotle,  as  interpreted  by  the  School- 
men, is  more  to  their  mind.  According  to  their 
reading  of  Aristotle,  all  his  ethics  are  subordinated 
to  an  end,  and  in  such  a  system  they  see  a  weap- 
on which  they  can  turn  to  their  own  purpose  of 
maintaining  dogma,  no  matter  at  what  sacrifice 
of  the  individual  conscience  or  reason.  *  *  * 
You  will  do  wrong — mankind  will  do  wrong — if 
it  allows  to  drop  out  of  existence  *  *  *  an 
agency  by  which  the  devotional  instincts  of  hu- 
man nature  are  enabled  to  exist  side  by  side  with 
the  rational.  The  English  Church,  as  established 
by  the  law  of  England,  offers  the  supernatural  to 
all  who  choose  to  come.  "  It  is  like  the  Divine 
Being  Himself,  whose  sun  shines  alike  on  the 
evil  and  on  the  good.  Upon  the  altars  of  the 
Church  the  Divine  presence  hovers  as  surely,  to 


The  Clmrclis  Duty  to  Her  Ozvn  People,    uj 

those  who  believe  it,  as  it  does  upon  the  splendid 
altars  of  Rome.  Thanks  to  circumstances  which 
the  founders  of  our  Church  did  not  contemplate, 
the  way  is  open  ;  it  is  barred  by  no  confession, 
no  human  priest."  ^ 

I  do  not  accept  this  statement  and  its  phrases 
without  qualification.  I  quote  it,  as  forcibly  sug- 
gesting how  effectual  a  guarantee  was  gained  for 
Christian  liberty  when  a  renewed  examination 
and  a  specific  permit,  ceased  to  be  demanded  of 
the  communicant  on  each  occasion  of  approach- 
ing the  Holy  Table.  Confession  and  Absolution 
are  among  the  burning  questions  of  the  day. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  as  things  are,  there  is 
too  much  estrangement  between  Priest  and  peo- 
ple; that  Christian  men  and  women  do  not  ask 
and  do  not  receive  that  assistance  in  their  per- 
sonal religious  life  which  they  sorely  need. 

The  outpouring  of  confidence  and  the  confes- 
sion of  fault  are  often  means  of  recovery  to  the 
fallen  :  in  the  ministry  of  God's  Holy  Word,  the 
benefit  of  absolution  may  be  discreetly  added  to 
the  ghostly  counsel  and  advice,  if  a  penitent 
"humbly  and  heartily  desire  it."  All  of  these 
principles  are  substantially  asserted  in  the  formu- 

I  John  Inglesant,  a  Romance.    Macmilhn,  p.  441. 


148  TJic  CJnirch  in  tJic  Nation. 

laries  of  the  Church,  although  for  prudential 
reasons  she  has  omitted  some  part  of  the  lan- 
guage I  have  quoted  from  the  English  Prayer 
Book. 

But  all  these  things  must  be  reconciled  with 
that  liberty  never  invaded  for  many  centuries  and 
restored  to  us  at  the  Reformation,  of  the  "  often 
receiving  of  the  Holy  Communion  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  when  it  shall  be 
publicly  administered  in  the  Church,"  without 
challenge,  except  for  cause  of  evil  life. 

VI.  While  she  respects  the  just  hberties  of  her 
children,  the  Church  is  equally  bound  to  main- 
tain over  them  a  prudent  and  effective  Discipline. 
Discipline  is  bound  up  in  the  terms  of  the  origi- 
nal commission.  BoGua  ra  apvia  }xov,  noiixaive 
Tci  TTpopaTa  jhotk 

"  If  there  be  no  sheep  that  may  stray,  why  be 
they  called  shepherds  ?  If  there  be  no  city  that 
may  be  betrayed,  why  be  they  called  watcli- 
mcn  ?"  ' 

We  read  in  Revelation.  Tloipavai  aiJtovi 
f  K  papScp  aiSf/pa.  "  He  shall  have  the  gen- 
tleness and  love  of  a  shepherd  for  his  flock,  but 
the  pastoral  crook  will  become  a  rod  of  iion  in 
'  Jewell  Ai;ol.  C  h.  viii.  Sect,  6. 


The  ChiircICs  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.    149 

his  hands  to  shatter  into  shivers  the  potter's  ves- 
sels of  false  doctrine."  * 

That  corporate  authority  implies  individual 
restraint,  that  to  surrender  Discipline  is  to  vacate 
responsibility,  that  the  Discipline  of  offenders  is  a 
debt  due  to  the  Church's  reputation  and  a  char- 
ity to  the  offender  as  well,  that  the  Church  which 
allows  her  members  with  impunity  to  violate  their 
baptismal  vows,  cannot  command  the  respect  of 
her  own  people  and  of  the  world,  are  proposi- 
tions so  self-evident  that  I  have  not  the  heart 
to  argue  them. 

And  yet  it  seems  that  we  have  drifted  so  far 
away  from  any  practical  recognition  of  this 
duty  that  it  needs  to  be  re-stated  and  re- 
affirmed. 

The  Church  of  England,  while  lamenting  the 
decay  of  primitive  discipline  and  expressing  her 
desire  for  its  restoration,  finds  hindrances  in  her 
way  which  cannot  be  affirmed  of  us.  Our  diffi- 
culty lies  in  that  exaggerated  notion  of  individ- 
ual independence  which  leads  many  to  demand 
privileges  as  a  right,  utterly  regardless  of  the 
responsibilities  which  they  entail,  so  that  reproof 
or  official  censure  for  flagrant   transgression  is 

1  Wordsworth  Com.,  Rev.  ii.  27. 


150  The  C/iuirh  in  tJie  Nation. 

not  regarded  as  the  inevitable  duty  of  one  who 
watches  and  must  give  account  for  souls,  but  as 
a  meddlesome  intrusion  within  the  domain  of 
personal  conscience. 

Upon  an  examination  of  the  Church's  offices 
and  canons,  it  appears  that  she  has  not  failed  to 
assert  the  right  and  to  confess  the  duty  of  main- 
taining Discipline,  Neither  are  her  ministers  un- 
furnished with  adequate  powers  to  guard  the  pu- 
rity of  the  flock  by  the  infliction  of  spiritual  cen- 
sures. I  refer  you  to  the  Communion  Office,  the 
Ordinal,  and  Art.  xxxiii.  in  proof  of  this  state- 
ment 

Where  this  duty  fails  to  be  discharged,  some 
part  of  the  explanation  may  doubtless  be  found 
in  the  absence  of  plain  directions  as  to  the  meth- 
ods of  procedure,  and  in  that  indefiniteness  as  to 
Priestly  responsibility  wliich  grows  out  of  un- 
certainty as  to  ecclesiastical  domicile.  But 
more  than  this,  there  is  a  very  general  misunder- 
standing as  to  the  source  and  residence  of  Dis- 
ciplinary authority.  Who  is  it  that  disciplines, 
and  who  is  it  that  restores  ?  I  answer  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  this  Church,  and  in  the  very 
nature  of  his  office,  the  ultimate  authority  resides 
in  the  Bishop. 


TJic  CJiurcJis  Duty  to  Her  Ozvn  People.   151 

The  Minister  is  to  guard  the  Holy  Table 
against  the  approach  of  wicked  men.  It  is  not 
left  to  him  to  say  what  constitutes  unworthiness  ; 
there  must  be  open  and  notorious  evil-living, 
or  else  wrong  done  by  word  or  deed  to  a  neigh- 
bor, or  else  malice  and  hatred.  He  must  knozv 
these  things  so  to  be.  Suspicion,  rumor,  anony- 
mous or  irresponsible  testimony  are  not  grounds 
on  which  to  proceed.  ^  He  must  so  know  them, 
that  he  can  produce  the  grounds  of  his  knowl- 
,edge. 

But  although  the  knowledge  be  certain,  and 
the  crime  flagrant,  not  yet  is  the  Minister  bound 
to  institute  criminal  procedures.  Be  it  ever  re- 
membered that  Discipline  is  the  very  last  resort 
to  be  applied  in  the  one  out  of  many  thousand 
cases,  and  only  where  courageous,  prudent  and 
sympathetic  pastoral  counsel  has  been  tried  in 
vain.  The  most  salutary  discipline  is  that  to 
which  the  offender  voluntarily  submits ;  and 
the  most  wholesome  penance  is  that  which 
is  self-imposed.  Because  I  am  pleading  for 
the  restoration  of  Discipline,  let  me  the 
more  earnestly  protest  that  nothing  is  more 
unwise     than     the     endeavor     to    compel    by 


15-  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

authority  that  which  may  be  won  by  influence.^ 
St.  Paul  forebore  to  assert  his  apostoHc  right  to 
obedience,  when  there  was  reason  to  hope  that 
acquiescence  could  be  secured  by  the  mention 
of  his  gray  hairs  and  his  fetters, 

"  Though  I  might  be  much  bold  in  Christ  to 
enjoin  thee  that  which  is  convenient,  yet  for 
love's  sake  I  rather  beseech  thee,  being  such  an 
one  as  Paul  the  aged,  and  now  also  a  prisoner  of 
Jesus  Christ."  '^ 

The  official  dealing  of  the  minister  with  an 
offender,  is  after  the  model  of  that  conduct  which 
our  Lord  prescribes  to  the  individual  wronged 

1  Formularies  of  Faith  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

The  Sacrament  of  Orders,  pp.  io8,  log. 
"And  in  this  part  also  two  things  be  to  be  noted.  The  first 
is,  that  all  punishment  which  Priests  or  Bishops  may  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  gospel,  inflict  or  put  to  any  person,  is  by  word  on- 
ly, and  not  by  any  violence  or  constraint  corporal.  The  second 
is,  that  although  Priests  and  Bishops  have  the  power  and  juris- 
diction to  excommunicate,  as  is  aforesaid  ;  yet  they  be  not  bound 
so  precisely  by  any  commandment  of  God,  but  that  they  ought 
and  may  attemper,  moderate,  or  forbear  the  execution  of  their 
said  jurisdiction  in  that  part  at  all  times,  whensoever  they  shall 
perceive  and  think  that  by  doing  the  contrary  they  should  not 
cure  or  help  the  offenders,  or  else  give  such  occasion  of  further 
trouble  and  unquietness  in  the  Church,  that  the  peace  and  tran- 
quillity thereof  might  thereby  be  impeached,  troubled,  or  other- 
wise interrupted  or  broken." 

2  Philemon  8  and  9, 


The  ChiircJis  Duty  to  Her  Oiuu  People.   153 

by  his  brother :  Speak  first  to  the  man  alone  :  and 
if  he  will  not  listen,  fortify  yourself  with  the  help 
of  a  few  who  are  most  likely  to  influence  him. 
In  the  last  resort,  Tell  it  to  the  Church, 

If  the  offender  refuses  to  be  advised,  the 
minister  admonishes  him  not  to  present  himself 
at  the  Holy  Table,  or  repels  him  therefrom.  But 
all  such  admonitions  are  to  be  promptly  reported 
to  the  Ordinary,  in  whose  hands  is  lodged  the 
ultimate  adjudication.  The  neglect  or  failure  of 
one  thus  admonished  or  repelled,  to  ask  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Bishop,  is  an  acceptance  of  the  in- 
hibition, unless  the  Bishop  shall  intervene  of  his 
own  motion,  believing  that  an  injustice  has  been 
done  to  one  ignorant  how  to  vindicate   himself 

To  the  Ordinary  belongs  whatever  disciplinary 
authority  attaches  historically  to  that  word,  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  it  may  be  limited  by  canonical 
enactment.  Some  authorities  may  well  be  quoted 
here: 

•*  Ordinary. — The  person  who  has  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
as  of  cause  and  of  common  right,  in  opposition  to  persons  who 
are  extraordinarily  appointed." — Hook  {on  Word)  Church  Dic- 
tionary. 

"  Ordinary. — Is  a  civil  law  term,  and  there  signifies  any 
Judge  that  hath  authority  to  take  cognizance  of  causes  in  his 
own  right,  as  he  is  a  magistrate,  and  not  by  deputation  ;  but  in 


154  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

the  common  law,  it  is  taken  for  him  that  hath  exempt  and  im- 
mediate jurisdiction  in  causes  ecclesiastical."  He  quotes  Lynde- 
wood  to  the  same  effect. — Cowel,  Law  Dictionary,  pub.    iboy . 

"An  Ordinary  (a  name  taken  from  the  Canonists]  is  he  that 
hd-ih.  jurisdiction  in  his  own  right ,  and  not  by  deputation." 
—  Wood's  Institutes,  1722. 

"Ordinary,  in  the  ecclesiastical  law,  is  a  word  applied  to  a 
bishop,  or  any  other  who  hath  ordinary  jurisdiction  in  his  own 
right,  and  not  by  deputation.  But  sometimes  it  is  taken  less 
strictly,  for  every  one  that  is  in  the  place  of  the  bishop  ;  as 
guardian  of  the  spiritualities,  chancellors,  commissaries,  and  all 
such  as  are  in  the  place  of  the  ordinary." — Burn'' s  New  Law 
Diet.,  ii.  p.  171. 

In  view  of  the  importance  of  this  subject,  not 
generally  understood,  I  quote  by  permission  a 
letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Oxford.  It  may  be  re- 
membered that  Dr.  Mackarness  refused,  on  the 
demand  of  certain  aggrieved  parishioners,  to  in- 
stitute proceedings  against  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter 
of  Clewer,  and  that  in  the  protracted  litigation 
which  ensued,  the  Bishop  defended  his  own 
cause  and  held  his  own  successfully,  against 
great  ecclesiastical  lawyers.  It  was  to  him, 
therefore,  that  a  note  of  enquiry  was  ad- 
dressed, on  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Godly  DiscipHne  of  the  Laity.  His  reply  is 
as  follows : 


TJic  CJuircJis  Duty  io  Her  0%vn  People.   155 

CuDDESDON  Palace,   Wheatley,  Oxford^ 
2gth  November,  1879. 
My  Dear  Brother — 

*****  It  seems  to  me  to  be  incorrect  to  speak  of 
the  Bishop  as  a  Judge  of  Appeal.  He  may  be  so,  no  doubt,  in 
regard  of  certain  inferior,  or  peculiar,  jurisdictions,  such  as  those 
of  an  Archdeacon,  Dean  and  Chapter,  or  other  "exempt"  au- 
thority ; — but  not  necessarily.  These  depend  on  ancient  cus- 
tom, and  have  no  existence,  I  suppose,  with  you  :  they  have 
been  materially  abridged,  and  diminished,  of  late  years  with  us. 
Speaking  generally,  I  should  say  that  the  Consistory  Court  of 
the  Bishop  is  the  primary  tribunal  for  the  trial  of  ecclesiastical 
offences.  By  custom  here  in  England  the  Chancellor,  or  offi- 
cial-Principal of  the  Bishop  presides  in  this  Court.  But  his 
jurisdiction  is  entirely  by  delegation  from  the  Bishop  :  and  inas- 
much as  he  is  the  Bishop  by  delegation,  so  to  say,  there  is  no 
appeal  from  him  to  the  Bishop.  The  appeal  lies  to  the  Provin- 
cial Court,  In  this  Consistory  Court  the  Bishop,  or  his  Chancel- 
lor, tries  such  as  are  accused  of  ecclesiastical  offences  according 
to  the  Canons  of  the  Church  ;  and  this  he  does  either  on  his  own 
mere  motion,  or  on  complaint ;  he  visits  offenders  with  eccle- 
siastical censures.  If  he  has  coercive  jurisdiction,  enforced  by 
secular  penalties,  it  is  such  as  has  been  conferred  by  the  State; 
or — being  founded  on  compact — such  as  the  temporal  law  en- 
forces on  the  parties  to  that  compact.  How  far— if  at  all— your 
temporal  Courts  recognize  the  validity  of  the  Canons  of  the  Uni- 
versal Church,  or  of  any  portion  of  them,  I  do  not  know.  But 
I  imagine  that  the  manner  in  which  discipline  is  to  be  exorcised 
must  depend  on  the  Canons,  unless  its  rule  can  be  ascertained 
from  the  common  law — if  we  may  so  speak— of  the  Church. 
Beside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Consistory  Court,  the  Bishop  has 
the  right  to  "visit  "  all  persons  (and  most  corporations)  eccle- 
siastical— and  to  receive  presentments  from  Church  officers,  and 
to  proceed  "sine  strepitu  judicii  "  in  the  correction  of  offenders 


156  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

in  his  Visitation.  But  the  extent  and  effect  of  this  jurisdiction 
is  very  uncertain,  and  is  practically  in  abeyance  with  us  at  the 
present  time,  though  the  Visitation  Courts  are  still  held  in  an- 
cient form^  The  only  support  to  a  supposed  jurisdiction  belong- 
ing to  the  parochial  Clergy  is  to  be  found,  I  think,  in  the  pre- 
face to  the  Communion  Office  in  our  Prayer  Book.  This  is  no 
jurisdiction,  properly  so  called,  hut  arises  from  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  where  the  Parish  Priest  is  obliged  to  decide  on  refusing 
the  Communion  to  an  evil  liver,  before  the  offence  can  possibly 
be  tried  before  the  Bishop.  But  then  he  is  to  give  an  account 
of  his  refusal  to  the  Ordinary  :  and  it  is  added  in  our  Prayer 
Book — not  in  yours- -that  "the  Ordinary  shall  proceed  against 
the  oft'ending  person  according  to  the  Canon."  On  the  whole, 
it  would  seem  that  if  Discipline  is  to  go  beyond  the  sphere  of 
pastoral  warning,  admonition  and  reproof,  it  implies  a  regular 
hearing  by  the  Bishop,  or  his  Judge,  with  opportunity  of  de- 
fence, under  the  direct  authority  of  Canonical  law.  I  imagine 
that  any  exercise  of  Discipline,  which  could  not  be  justified  by 
the  laws  (in  that  behalf )  of  the  religious  Society  to  which  the  of- 
fender belonged,  would  not  be  upheld  by  your  Tribunals,  any 
more  than  by  ours.  That  there  is  a  sad  lack  of  Discipline  in  the 
Church,  is  undeniably  true.  But  may  it  not  be  a  question 
whether  the  awakening  of  a  keener  abhorrence  of  sin  in  the 
whole  body  of  Churchmen  is  not  a  pre-requisite  to  the  enact- 
ment of  stricter  Canons,  or  the  establishment  of  a  more  effective 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  ?***** 

Your  faithful  £i-iend  and  brother, 

J.  F.  OxoN. 
The  Right  Rev. 
The  Bishop  of  Easlon. 

In  response  to  a  further  communication,  his 
Lordship  wrote  as  follows: 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Own  People.   157 

CuDDESDON  Palace,  Wheatley,  Oxon. 

2nd  March,  i88^. 
My  Dear  Brother— 

*  *  *  On  reconsideration  I  do  not  see  any  need  to  alter  what 
I  wrote.  But  I  fear  that  my  remarks  were  not  much  to  your 
purpose.  I  referred  to  an  appellate  jurisdiction  ;  you  were 
thinking  rather  of  appeal  in  the  popular  sense.  In  this  popular 
sense,  it  is  true  that  members  of  the  Church  have  a  right  to  ap- 
peal to  the  Bishop  for  his  guidance  and  direction  in  spirit, 
ual  questions  ;  and  they  may  be  said  (popularly)  to  appeal  against 
the  Parish  Priest,  if  he  hns  exercised  his  authority  in  repelling 
them  from  Communion.  But  I  contend  that  the  act  of  the  Parish 
Priest  was  not  a  sentence,  of  which  judicial  notice  could  be 
taken,  so  as  to  vary,  or  reverse,  it  by  another  sentence.  It  was 
merely  an  exercise  of  his  Cura  Pastoralis,  to  which  the  Bishop's 
consent  was  necessary,  before  it  could  become  a  sentence  of  the 
Church.  All  this  however  is  of  little  importance  in  its  bearing 
on  the  grave  question,  with  which  you  deal.  You  wish  to  es- 
tablish, or  re-establish  some  real  and  effective  discipline, 
whether  in  the  hands  of  Priest  or  Bishop,  by  means  of  which  the 
souls  of  the  guilty  might  be  saved,  and  others,  admonished  by 
their  example,  might  be  afraid  to  offend.  We  are  often  told  here 
by  candid  critics  that  it  is  our  relations  to  the  State  which  make 
an  effective  discipline  impossible  to  us,  I  wish  we  could  learn 
from  you  that  your  freedom  from  such  relations  had  given  you 
the  Church  Discipline  in  which  we  are  deficient.  But  the  papers, 
which  you  have  kindly  sent  me,  do  not  give  much  encouragement 
in  this  direction.  Be  assured  that  English  Churchmen  woiild  be 
deeply  grateful  to  their  brethren  in  your  branch  of  the  Church,  if 
you  show  us  the  example,  and  illustrate  the  methods  which  we 
lack.     •     *     *     * 

I  am  your  sincere  Friend  and  Brother, 

J.  F.  Oxon. 


158  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

Of  all  that  appertains  to  Discipline,  the  Church 
in  the  United  States  has  preserved  the  essential 
principles  intact.  The  canonical  enactments 
necessary  for  the  right  understanding  and  due 
application  of  them  have  yet  need  to  be  formula- 
ted. In  an  appendix  to  these  Lectures,  I  pro- 
pose to  give  some  account  of  the  Disciplinary 
Legislation  accomplished  and  attempted  in  the 
last  fifteen  years. 

VII.  That  the  "  awakening  of  a  keener  ab- 
horrence of  sin  in  the  whole  body  of  Churchmen" 
is  the  truest  work  to  which  we  can  address  our- 
selves, none  may  deny.  That  the  discipline  of  the 
martinet  is  inapplicable  to  Christ's  freedmen,  all 
will  agree.  But  when  there  is  public  disorder,  or 
individual  revolt  against  laws  as  benign  as  they 
arc  necessary,  the  Church  must  be  bold  enough  to 
say,  "  I  will  come  to  you  shortly  *  *  *  What 
will  ye  ?  shall  I  come  unto  you  with  a  rod,  or  in 
love,  and  in  the  spirit  of  meekness  ?"  ' 

It  is  no  marvel  that  we  have  failed  thus  far  to 
establish  an  intelligible  and  uniform  discipline, 
defining  the  limits  which  clergymen  and  laymen 
may  not  trangress,  and  restraining  them  when 
individual  liberty  resists  the  authority  of  law. 

1  I  Cor.  iv.  19. 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Her  Oiun  People.    159 

When  one  remembers  that  our  fathers  had 
need  to  transfer  bodily,  as  it  were,  Anghcan  rules 
and  methods  to  a  country  most  part  wilderness, 
and  to  a  nation  entering  on  a  new  experiment  in 
government :  when  one  recalls  the  local  tradi- 
tions and  prejudices,  the  accidental  complications 
of  the  mother  Church  with  the  State,  the  interfer- 
ence of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  courts,  which  have 
their  influence  upon  us,  it  seems  most  reasonable 
that  time  and  deliberation  should  be  needed  to 
perfect  our  jurisprudence. 

The  Church  ought  to  be  revered  as  well  as 
loved.  She  may  win  affection  by  her  benign 
liberality  :  but  her  own  children  will  mock  her 
to  the  face,  unless  she  has  a  rod  in  reserve  for 
such  as  offend  of  malicious  wickedness,  unless 
her  frown  is  as  terrible  as  her  smile   is  gracious. 


LECTURE    V. 
The  Church's  Duty  to  a  Divided  Christ 

ENDOM. 


LECTURE  V. 

THE   CHURCH'S  DUTY  TO    A    DIVIDED    CHRIST- 
ENDOM. 

"The  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first  pure,  then  peacea- 
ble."— yames  m..  17. 

nnHE  heavenly  Charity  of  St.  Paul,  and  the 
-■-  Wisdom  from  above  of  St.  James  are  full 
sisters.  The  Charity  is  truth-loving,  just  as  the 
Wisdom  is  pure.  They  are  virtues  alike  in 
gentleness  and  patience,  and  in  freedom  from 
self- glory  and  censoriousness. 

We  who  stand  in  the  midst  of  a  divided 
Christendom  have  need  to  cultivate  them  both. 
To  surrender  truth  of  doctrine  and  purity  of  or- 
der will  heal  no  wounds.  But  guarding  these 
securely,  how  much  room  is  there  for  sound 
discretion,  tempered  with  long-suffering  tender- 
ness, in  dealing  with  the  problems  which  grow 
out  of  the  segregation  into  separate  communi- 
ties, of  those  who  hold  the  orthodox  faith. 

163 


1 64  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

II.  I  turn  first  to  the  Churches  of  the  Ro- 
man obedience.  We  so  call  them  because  we 
know  not  of  any  authority  which  authorizes  a 
"  Holy  Roman  Church  "  to  demand  recognition 
save  at  her  own  imperial  home.  We  are  con- 
fronted with  various  National  Churches  which 
acknowledge  Rome  as  their  Mother  and  their  Mis- 
tress :  and  so  confronted,  that  we  must  deter- 
mine what  measure  of  consideration  is  due  them. 

The  Church  of  England,  and  by  consequence 
our  own,  is  guiltless  of  voluntary  separation 
from  the  communion  of  other  Western  Churches. 
A  brief  reference  to  the  res  gestcB  amply  vindi- 
cates this  statement.  In  1531  the  Clergy  in 
Convocation  asked  that  payments  to  the  Pope 
might  be  abolished,  and  suggested  that  should 
he  refuse  acquiescence  England  should  withdraw 
from  obedience  to  Rome.  In  1532-3,  an  act 
was  passed,  abolishing  appeals  to  the  Pope  of 
Rome  and  transferring  the  spiritual  jurisdiction 
heretofore  by  him  exercised,  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  In  1534  the  act  was  finally  rat- 
ified by  which  tribute  was  forbidden  to  be  paid 
to  the  Pope,  or  his  permission  to  be  asked  in  the 
designation  and  consecration  of  Bishops.  Thus 
far  the  King;  and  Parliament. 


The   Church's  Duty  to   Christendom.       165 

Then  the  Church  took  definite  action.  The 
Convocation  of  Canterbury  declared,  March  3 1st, 
1534,  and  that  of  York,  May  5th,  1534,  that  "  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  has  no  greater  jurisdiction  con- 
ferred on  him  by  God,  in  this  Kingdom  of  Eng- 
land, than  any  other  foreign  Bishop.''  In  this 
statement,  simple,  terse  and  emphatic,  the  Bish- 
ops, Universities,  Chapters  and  Monasteries 
concurred  with  singular  unanimity.  And  thus, 
in  1534,  the  Papal  Supremacy  was  finally  and 
utterly  repudiated.  Let  that  date  never  be  for- 
gotten.' 

There  is  another  date,  1569,  of  utmost  interest 
in  the  history  of  the  Western  Church.  During 
the  thirty-five  years'  interval  between  the  two, 
under  Henry  and  Edward  and  Mary  and  Eliza- 
beth, the  tide  of  Reformation  surged  sometimes 
forward  and  sometimes  backward.  But  during 
tliose  thirty-five  years,  from  1534  to  1569,  there 
were  no  rival  altars  set  up  in  England.  There 
was  not  an  English  Church,  and  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  claiming  jurisdiction  in  the  same 
territory. 

The  severance  came  in  that  year  1569,  being 

'  The  history  is  related  with  much  precision  in  Blunt's  Hist. 
of  the  Reformation,  Ch.  V. 


1 66  TJic  Church  in  the  Nation. 

the  eleventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
when  Pius  V.,  by  the  bull  Regnans  in  coelo,  ex- 
communicated that  sovereign  and  absolved  her 
subjects  from  allegiance  to  her:  all  who  should 
obey  her  mandates  incurring  like  anathema.^ 

A  rival  Communion  was  thenceforth  established 
as  in  partibns  infidclinm,  until  in  our  own  day,  a 
Bishop  of  Melipotamus  was  succeeded  by  an 
Archbishop  of  Westminster. 

Never  has  the  Church  of  England  broken  com- 
munion with  the  historic  Churches  of  Europe. 
There  is  no  anathema  to  be  found  in  her  records, 
hurled  against  the  Church  of  France,  because  she 
accords  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  an  authority 
which  the  Church  of  England  denies.  She 
thrusts  none  out,  but  was  herself  thrust  out  and 
anathematized.  How  much  this  severance  has 
been  lamented,  appears  in  the  utterances  of  An- 
glican Doctors  from  Jewell  to  Pusey.  The  form- 
er writes  thus  sadly  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  : 

"Would  that  he  had  so  behaved  himself,  that 
this  falling  away  had  not  needed !     But  so  the 

'  The  original  is  in  Burnett's  Hist,  of  Reformation,  Records, 
Pt.  ii.  Book  iii.  No.  xiii.  Its  claim  for  the  Pope  is  astounding, 
"  Regnans  in  Coelo  ♦  *  *  Hunc  unum  super  omnes  gentes  et 
omnia  regna  Principem  constituit,  qui  evellat,  destruat,  disper- 
dat,"  &c. 


The  C /lurch's  Duty  to  Christendom.       167 

case  stood,  that  unless  we  left  him,  we  could  not 
come  to  Christ.  Neither  will  he  now  make  any 
league  with  us,  than  such  a  one  as  Nahash,  the 
king  of  the  Ammonites,  would  have  made  in 
times  past  with  the  city  of  Jabez,  which  was,  to 
put  out  the  right  eye  of  each  one  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  so  to  receive  them  into  his  friendship." ' 

And  as  for  the  Eirenicon  of  Pusey,  it  stands  a 
monument  of  hopeful  ingenuity,  seeking  to  bridge 
a  gulf,  seemingly  impassable,  after  that  the  de- 
crees of  Trent  had  converted  Doctrines  which 
might  possibly  be  tolerated,  into  Articles  of 
Faith  which  could  not  possibly  be  accepted. 

But  history  steadily  advances,  and  that  which 
the  author  of  the  Eirenicon  deprecated  as  fatal  to 
a  healthful  re-union  has  come  to  pass.  It  is 
vain  to  seek  some  modus  vivendi  by  which  the 
Pope  may  be  recognized  as  the  mouthpiece 
through  which  a  united  Church  may  utter  her 
mind.  No  less  will  suffice  than  to  agree  that  in 
definitions  of  doctrine,  his  utterances  are  irre- 
formable  of  themselves,  and  not  from  the  consent 
of  the  Church:  "  ex  sese  non  aiitein  ex  eonsensu 
ecclesics."  * 

1  Jewell's  Apol.  Ch.  xiii.  Sect.  9. 
^Vatican  Council,  Canon  iv. 


1 68  TJie  CImrch  in  the  Nation. 

III.  The  Bishops  of  this  Church,  in  the  year 
1880,  set  themselves  seriously  to  consider  their 
duty  towards  the  children  of  God  within  the 
Churches  overmastered  by  exterior  power.  They 
declare  a  right  of  intervention,  and  state  two 
grounds  of  justification.  First,  that  by  the  de- 
crees of  Trent  in  1565,  by  the  dogma  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  in  1854,  and  by  the  decree 
of  the  InfaUibility  in  1870,  false  dogmas  have 
been  imposed  on  men's  consciences  as  necessary 
to  salvation. 

Secondly,  that  in  the  Latin  Churches,  Bishops 
are  deprived  of  their  independence,  and  the  Di- 
vine Constitution  of  the  Church  so  changed,  as 
to  destroy  the  autonomy,  if  not  the  existence  of 
National  Churches. 

On  these  grounds  they  declare  that  it  is  our 
right  and  our  duty,  to  protect  in  the  holding  of 
the  primitive  faith  and  in  the  recovering  of  the 
primitive  order,  those  who  have  been  deprived 
of  both. 

St.  Paul  would  not  stretch  himself  "  beyond 
his  measure."  "  The  busy  body  in  other  men's 
matters  "  of  St.  Peter,  is  literally  one  who  plays 
the  Bishop  outside  of  his  bounds.^ 

•  dXXorptoETtidHOTtoi.  —  i  Pet.  iv.  15. 


The  ChurcJCs  Duty  to  Christendom.       169 

The  ancient  canons  are  in  nothing  more  pre- 
cise than  in  forbidding  Episcopal  intrusion. 

Have  we  then  an  adequate  warrant  for  an- 
swering the  summons,  when  the  men  of  Italy 
or  of  France,  or  of  Mexico  or  of  Cuba,  cry  to  us 
to  come  to  their  relief? 

Bingham  has  left  little  to  be  said  both  as  to 
the  principle  and  as  to  the  precedents.  Atha- 
nasius  did  not  hesitate  to  hold  ordinations  in  Arian 
churches.  So  also  Eusebius  of  Samosata,  so  also 
Epiphanius. 

"  Dioceses  were  but  limits  of  convenience,  for 
the  preservation  of  order  in  times  of  peace  :  but 
the  faith  was  a  more  universal  thing,  and  when 
war  was  made  upon  that,  then  the  whole  world 
was  but  one  diocese,  and  the  whole  Church  but 
one  flock ;  and  every  pastor  thought  himself 
obliged  to  feed  his  great  Master's  sheep  accord- 
ing to  his  power,  whatever  part  of  the  world  they 
were  scattered  in.      *     *     * 

"  In  things  that  did  not  appertain  to  the  faith, 
they  were  not  to  meddle  with  other  men's  dio- 
ceses, but  only  to  mind  the  business  of  their 
own  ;  but  when  the  faith  or  welfare  of  the  Church 
lay  at  stake,  and  religion  was  manifestly  invaded, 
then,  by  this  rule  of  there  being  but  one  Episco- 


I/O  TJie  Chtaxh  in  the  Nation. 

pacy,  every  other  Bishopric  was  as  much  their 
diocese  as  their  own  ;  and  no  human  laws  or 
canons  could  tie  up  their  hands  from  performing 
such  acts  of  their  Episcopal  office  in  any  part  of 
the  world,  as  they  thought  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  religion."  ' 

IV.  And  such  an  exigency  now  meets  us,  in 
such  wise  that  it  cannot  be  ignored. 

I  take  the  matter  out  of  the  region  of  abstrac- 
tions. I  state  the  case  as  personally  urged  by  a 
French  Priest  upon  an  American  Bishop  visiting 
Paris.  I  am,  said  he,  in  substance,  a  Catholic 
Priest  of  the  Gallican  Church,  ready  and  willing 
to  render  Imufnl  obedience  to  my  diocesan,  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris.  In  discharging  my  office, 
I  am  approached  by  a  man  who  desires  admis- 
sion to  the  holy  sacraments.  There  is  no  disquali- 
fication known  to  me.  He  stands  ready  to  pro- 
fess the  faith  in  the  words  of  the  ancient  Creeds, 
perhaps  of  the  Tridentine  formula.  Only,  he  is 
not  prepared  to  affirm  the  Immaculateness  of  the 
Virgin  and  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope.  And 
my  diocesan  forbids  me  to  admit  him  to  the 
Lord's  table. 

Grave  is  the  responsibility  of  refusing  to  obey 

*  Antiq.,  B.  ii.  Ch.  v. 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Chj'istendom.      lyi 

my  ecclesiastical  superiors.  But  as  a  child  must 
disobey  the  father,  if  he  bid  him  deny  the  Christ, 
so  must  the  Priest  resist  the  Bishop  who  bids  him 
impose  on  faithful  men  a  yoke  of  falsehood. 

And  is  each  Priest,  he  continued,  thus  unhap- 
pily circumstanced,  to  act  on  his  individual  re- 
sponsibility in  the  determination  of  questions  so 
grave  ?  Is  he  to  be  left  bareheaded  to  endure 
the  storm  of  obloquy  and  reproach  ?  Is  no  charity 
due  from  the  free,  to  such  as  are  in  spiritual  bon- 
dage ?  Have  you  so  lost  faith  in  the  world-wide 
jurisdiction  of  the  Episcopate  that  you  cannot 
recognize  and  direct  one  who  is  suffering  a  moral 
martyrdom  in  asserting  for  himself  and  his  flock 
the  liberty  in  Christ,  dearer  to  yourselves  than 
hfe  itself? 

Intrusion  !  Who  hesitates  to  intrude  upon  the 
domicile  of  a  neighbor,  when  there  issues  from  it 
the  cry  of  the  broken-hearted  ?  Who  fears  to 
protect  in  enfolding  arms,  the  child,  when  the 
heart  of  the  mother  is  hardened  against  it,  and 
her  hand  smites  it  for  obeying  God  ? 

Such  an  appeal  is  irresistible. 

Charity  demands,  and  the  great  commission 
authorizes  us,  when  unlawful  terms  of  commun- 
ion are  imposed  on  the  faithful,  courageously  and 


1/2  The   C /lurch  in  the  Nation. 

lovingly  to  extend  over  them  the  sheltering  wings 
of  the  Universal  Episcopate.  It  may  be  said,  that 
such  arguments  as  these  have  been  urged  to  jus- 
tify insubordination  by  all  the  self-willed  from 
the  Donatist  to  the  Puritan.  But  mark  the  dif- 
ference. The  question  is  not  here  of  laxity  of 
discipline  or  of  ceremonial,  offensive  to  a  scrupu- 
lous conscience.  It  concerns  the  Faith  itself.  It 
deals  with  the  inalienable  rights  of  a  Christian  cit- 
izen. It  invokes  as  the  arbiter,  the  unequivocal 
utterances  of  the  undivided  Church  in  the  General 
Councils.  No  excuse  may  here  be  found  for 
that  schismatic  temper,  which  claims  that  the 
Church  must  defer  to  individual  convictions. 

Such  intervention  best  befits  the  Church  next 
at  hand.  It  is  for  England  to  take  the  lead  in 
sustaining  the  Old  Catholic  movement  in  Europe, 
as  it  ours  to  protect  and  guide  like  endeavors 
in  Mexico  and  in  South  America. 

There  is  much  room  in  such  undertakings  for 
prudence  and  for  courtesy.  It  ill  becomes  us  to 
alienate  people  from  their  religion,  even  although 
the  truth  be  darkened  with  errors  and  supersti- 
tions, unless  we  accept  the  responsibility  of  sup- 
plying something  better.  Most  scrupulous  should 
we  be  to  avoid  unnecessary  offence,  and  coarse 


IJie  Church's  Duty  to  Christeudom.       173 

assaults  upon  inveterate  prejudices.  In  these 
particulars,  the  conduct  of  the  American  Church 
at  Rome,  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nevin,  has  differed 
widely  from  the  policy  pursued  by  those  who 
promote  what  is  called  the  Free  Church  of  Italy. 
In  placarding  the  walls  of  the  city  with  denunci- 
ations of  the  Virgin,  they  excited  a  mob  into  riot; 
but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  led  any  to 
serious  reflection. 

Let  us  not  shrink  from  asserting  this  Catholic 
principle,  because  a  first  experiment,  in  Mexico, 
has  not  been  felicitous. 

If  mistake  and  ill-success  in  any  enterprise, 
are  so  to  dishearten  us  that  we  shall  make  no 
further  venture  of  faith,  then  may  we  well  limit 
our  care  to  keeping  ourselves  out  of  harm's  way, 
and  reconcile  ourselves  to  so  much  of  evil  and 
suffering  as  do  not  thrust  themselves  on  our  no- 
tice. The  great  St.  Peter,  not  altogether  eman- 
cipated from  the  narrowness  of  race  and  educa- 
tion, made  very  great  mistakes  at  Antioch,  and 
was  severely  and  publicly  rebuked  by  his  col- 
league. But  we  do  not  read  that  in  his  mortifi- 
cation, he  determined  to  let  the  Gentiles  alone 
for  ever.  The  possibility  of  mistake  and  disaster 
is  always  to  be  taken  into  account. 


174  1^^i<^  Church  in  the  Nation. 

During  the  Civil  War,  one  of  the  great  Com- 
manders gave  orders  to  his  Quarter-master,  to 
include  in  his  estimates  the  loss  of  one  supply- 
train  a  week. 

Let  us  look  things  in  the  face.  If  the  Church 
Militant  is  to  conquer  at  last,  she  must  expect  to 
lose  treasure  and  lives  as  well :  to  advance,  and 
then  retreat,  and  then  renew  the  advance.  Our 
failure  in  Mexico  will  prove  a  blessing  in  dis- 
guise, if  it  shall  lead  us  to  a  more  thorough  in- 
vestigation of  the  principles  which  are  to  guide 
us  in  the  responsibility,  more  and  more  inevita- 
ble as  time  goes  on,  of  dealing  with  the  religious 
interests  of  Spanish-speaking  Americans. 

The  Bishops  of  this  Church  did  not  exceed 
their  powers  when  they  extended  their  official 
protection  to  Mexicans  striving  for  Catholic  pur- 
ity and  freedom.  1  believe  that  for  the  most 
part  they  are  satisfied  that  the  elders  and  breth- 
ren should  have  been  taken  into  their  confidence 
and  that  their  counsel  should  have  been  used. 

It  seems,  in  the  light  of  experience,  that  an 
undue  regard  was  had  to  an  alleged  national  sen- 
sitiveness. We  treated  with  a  few  people,  whose 
utmost  pretension  was  to  be  a  nascent  Church, 
as  if  they  were  a  National  Church.    We  encour- 


TJic  Church's  Duly  to  Christendom.      iy$ 

aged  the  veriest  babe  in  knowledge  and  culture, 
needing  to  be  supported  in  nursing  arms,  to  ex- 
pect from  us  the  consideration  due  to  a  manly- 
ally.  We  forbore  to  provide  a  simple  liturgy 
adapted  to  their  needs,  and  bade  those  few  strug- 
gling persecuted  Churchmen,  to  do  a  work  far 
more  difficult  than  the  revision  in  which  we  have 
been  of  late  engaged ;  viz.  to  compile  a  liturgy, 
out  and  out,  from  the  Mozarabic  and  other  lit- 
urgies of  Southern  Europe. 

We  have  failed  once  :  but  that  does  not  imply 
final  surrender.  Let  time  be  given  to  recover 
from  the  disappointment  and  to  revise  the  plan 
of  the  campaign,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  this 
Church  will  presently  stretch  forth  her  hand  to 
assist  earnest  men  in  Mexico  in  their  endeavor 
to  reach  the  purer  atmosphere  of  evangelic  truth. 
If,  as  has  been  urged,  the  national  sensitiveness  is 
so  great  that  they  cannot  acquiesce  in  the  con- 
dition of  pupilage  to  this  Church  until  they  reach 
maturity,  if  they  demand  of  us  orders  and  sub- 
sidies, and  deny  to  us  supervision  and  control, 
then  have  we  a  plain  intimation  of  Providence  to 
stay  our  hand.  We  seek  not  to  hoard  our  apos- 
tolic authority  :  but  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  im- 
part it  without  adequate  security,  that  we  are 


1/6  TJie  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

committing  it  to  such  as  appreciate  the  gift  and 
will  rightly  use  it. 

V.  I  turn  next  to  the  religious  bodies  of  our 
country,  churches,  sects  and  denominations,  ac- 
cording to  the  customary  modes  of  speech. 

While  this  Church  is  a  factor,  and  an  influen- 
tial factor,  in  guiding  the  religious  thought  of  the 
nation,  she  is  very  far  out- numbered  by  several 
Christian  corporations.  The  allegiance  of  people 
is  divided  among  societies  counted  by  the  hun- 
dred. In  point  of  numbers  they  range  almost 
from  the  quaternion  to  the  legion  :  in  point  of 
doctrine,  from  a  Christianity  (if  the  conception  is 
possible)  without  the  supernatural,  to  the  full  pro- 
fession of  orthodoxy. 

I  speak  of  these  bodies  as  Churches.  It  seems 
most  courteous  to  designate  them  as  they  desire 
to  be  designated,  remembering  always,  that  they 
repudiate  the  definition  of  that  word,  as  implying 
either  historical  continuity,  or  unbroken  succes- 
sion of  orders,  or  paramount  authority. 

And  furthermore,  while  these  Churches  are  oc- 
casionally in  fierce  controversies  one  with  anoth- 
er, yetthey  are  not  without  a  family  likeness  and  a 
community  in  policies  and  purposes.  "  The  Pop- 
ular Religion  "  is  not  a  mere  abstraction.    It  suffi- 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Christendom.      177 

ciently  describes  that  substantial  teaching  of  Pu- 
ritan and  Methodist  Churches  which  remains, 
when  one  ehminates  those  accidental  features, 
which  however  valued  and  gloried  in,  they  them- 
selves allow,  are  not  of  the  essence  of  Christian 
character. 

This  Popular  Religion  and  these  influential 
Churches  which  hold  it,  deserve  our  careful  study 
and  our  most  respectful  consideration. 

Let  us  glance  backward  at  the  origin  of  this 
multiplicity  of  Churches.  Was  such  division 
intended  by  the  reformers  of  renown  ?  Did 
Luther  or  Calvin  or  Baxter  or  Wesley  deliberate- 
ly propose  to  discard  the  accepted  principles 
touching  the  organic  unity  of  the  Church  ?  Did 
any  one  of  them  ever  propound  the  thesis  that 
the  normal  constitution  of  the  Church,  according 
to  the  command  of  our  Lord  and  the  example  of 
His  Apostles,  was  that  of  numerous  Societies, 
exercising  jurisdiction  within  the  same  territory, 
eaeh  one  publishing  its  own  Confession,  united  in 
belief  and  affection,  but  diverse  in  doctrine,  and 
independent  in  authority? 

None  of  these  had  any  other  design  in  the 
beginning,  but  to  purify  or  to  vivify  the  Nation- 
al Church  into  which  they  were  born. 


1/3  Tlie  CJiurch  in  the  Nation. 

But  the  Reformation  was  effected  under  many- 
difficulties  and  in  an  atmosphere  surcharged  with 
prejudices.  There  was  not  the  apparatus  for 
investigation  so  accessible  to  us  now.  Men 
floundered  in  the  bog  before  they  reached  the 
firm  ground  of  CathoHc  teaching.  Witness  Cran- 
mer's  crude  utterances  about  Bishops  and  Priests, 
which  after  accurate  study  he  utterly  repudiated. 

The  absence  of  Episcopal  guidance  on  the 
Continent  left  their  reformation  to  drift  as  a  ship 
without  a  rudder.  The  plea  of  present  necessity 
came  in,  to  excuse  departures  from  historic  pre- 
cedents, regretted  at  the  moment,  and  the  conse- 
quences of  which  no  one  had  the  foresight  to 
estimate.  I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  correspond- 
ence between  the  Continental  and  Anglican  Re- 
formers, the  strong  bonds  of  sympathy  which 
united  them,  and  the  importation  into  the  Eng- 
lish mind  of  what  was  deemed  a  charitable  tole- 
ration. 

I  have  mentioned  the  name  of  Baxter.  His  non- 
conformity was  not  founded  on  essential  sectari- 
anism. The  nonconformists  of  Baxter's  day  ex- 
cused themselves  in  setting  up  separate  congre- 
gations, upon  the  ground  that  unscriptural  cere- 
monies, imperfect  discipline,  needless  impositions 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Christendom.      179 

and  ecclesiastical  tyranny  did  not  suffer  them  to 
minister  peaceably,  and  with  a  good  conscience, 
at  the  altars  of  the  Church  of  England. 

As  for  Wesley,  who  knows  not  that  so  far  from 
setting  out  to  disintegrate,  he  affirmed  a  mission 
to  quicken  dead  formulas  into  life,  and  to  supple- 
ment mechanical  routine  with  spiritual  earnest- 
ness. The  readiest  solution  of  the  Coke  and  As- 
bury  commission  seems  to  be, that  in  the  default 
of  the  English  Church  to  make  any  provision  ade- 
quate to  the  emergency,  he,  in  the  discharge  of  a 
grave  prophetic  mission,  felt  called  upon  to  or- 
ganize into  "  Societies  "  such  devout  people  as 
might  presently  become  the  Church  of  the  na- 
tion.' 

While  then,  the  story  abounds  in  exhibitions 
of  human  rashness  and  unreasonableness  and 
self-assertion,  it  is  also  a  history  of  good  men 
groping  in  the  twilight,  to  find  remedies  for  pa- 
tent evils  ;  of  legitimate  authority,  crippled  by  the 
influence  of  the  Curia  or  the  Court ;  of  the  Church 
at  times  given  to  slumber,  and  impatient  with 

»  "  I  was  determined,  as  little  as  possible  to  violate  the  estab- 
lished order  of  the  National  Church  to  which  I  belonged.  But 
the  case  is  widely  different  between  England  and  North  Amer- 
ica," and  the  rest. — Stevens^  Hist.  M.  E.  Church,  vol.  ii.  p. 
182. 


I  So  TJie  Chiircli  in  the  Nation. 

those  who  would  rouse  her  into  activity  :  of  in- 
ventions of  men  pro  re  nata,  who  did  not  foresee 
that  they  would  thus  revolutionize  the  whole 
ideal  of  the  Church. 

Such  is  the  disorderly  inheritance  that  has 
come  down  to  us.  The  Republic  is  our  political 
idol,  and  the  political  instinct  revolts  against  the 
pretence  of  the  Church,  to  be  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  instead  of  a  Republic  of  Saints.  There  has 
been  cultivated  an  indifference,  amounting  almost 
to  contempt,  towards  any  godliness,  whether  in 
doctrine  or  experience,  anterior  to  the  printing  of 
the  Bible.  And  this  habit,  by  an  inevitable  re- 
bound, has  impugned  the  worth  of  the  witnesses  to 
the  genuineness  and  the  safe  custody  of  that 
volume  itself.  Historical  Religion,  as  we  know 
and  receive  it,  is  not  so  much  as  brought  to  the 
notice  of  most  religious  people,  and  the  sugges- 
tion of  its  worth  serves  only  to  excite  a  smile  of 
incredulity. 

While  we  confess  and  bewail  the  sin  and 
wretchedness  of  our  unhappy  divisions,  we  may 
be  permitted  to  console  ourselves  with  the  reflec- 
tion that  they  who  took  the  initiative,  did  not 
anticipate  or  desire  the  consequence  ;  and  that 
they  who  perpetuate  the  separation  are  not  pur- 


The   Church's  Duty  to   Christendom.       i8l 

posely  rending  the  unity  of  Christ's  body. 
Again,  we  have  need  to  ask  ourselves,  whether 
these  evils  are  not  the  result  of  past  negligence. 
While  men  slept  the  dull  animal  sleep  of  the 
middle  ages,  or  lost  themselves  in  the  intellect- 
ual dreaminess  of  the  Georgian  era,  the  enemy 
sowed  those  tares  whereof  we  are  reaping  the 
harvest. 

We  do  well  to  ask,  whether  it  is  not  of  a  piece 
with  God's  working,  when  the  official  messenger 
lingers  on  the  way,  to  permit  the  footman  to 
run,  aye,  and  to  overrun  him. 

We  do  well  to  remember  that  these  Churches 
have  carried  a  message  of  salvation  into  every 
corner  of  the  land,  and  that  as  the  case  now 
stands,  the  question  of  adequate  religious  occu- 
pancy of  the  territory  is  not  as  between  us  and 
them,  but  between  them  and  unbelief 

Moreover,  when  one  considers  the  magnifi- 
cence of  their  operations  in  the  dissemination  of 
Holy  Scripture  and  of  religious  books,  some  of 
which  we  also  recognize  as  Classics  :  when  one 
recalls  their  valuable  contributions  to  the  study 
of  theology,  and  the  immense  endowment  of  re- 
ligious and  benevolent  institutions :  when  one 
remembers  how  He  from  whom  come  our  Apos- 


1 82  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

tolic  gifts,  committed  as  it  were  an  angel's  lyre 
into  the  hands  of  Doddridge  or  of  Watts,  and 
endued  John  Wesley  with  a  magnetic  power 
over  human  souls,  and  a  skill  in  organization 
and  administration  almost  without  a  parallel : 
nay  more,  when  in  fraternal  converse  it  is  made 
plain,  that  these  men,  not  of  our  household,  do 
hate  sin,  and  defy  its  Prince,  do  love  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  walking  in  the  Spirit  and  exhibit- 
ing in  life  His  fruits  :  in  view  of  all  these  things, 
it  becomes  us,  not  to  rest  less  immovably  on  our 
base  of  historic  prescription,  but  to  recognize 
the  facts  and  the  charitable  explanation  of  them, 
and  to  render  fitting  homage  to  the  Christ-like- 
ness wherever  it  appears. 

Such  reflections  will  make  us  as  ready  to  praise 
what  is  praiseworthy,  as  to  blame  what  is  worthy 
of  blame.  They  will  break  down  the  barriers 
which  hinder  the  expression  of  Christian  sympa- 
thy where  it  may  lawfully  be  expressed.  They 
will  incline  us  to  accept  valuable  lessons  of  prac- 
tical wisdom.  Above  all,  they  will  remind  us 
that  our  tenure  of  influence  is  dependent  on 
fidelity  and  vigilance  ;  that  to  the  Church,  as  to 
the  individual,  belongs  the  warning,  "  Hold  that 
fast   which    thou    hast,    that  no   man   take    thy 


The  Churclis  Duty  to  Christendom.      183 

crown."  Need  I  say,  that  they  will  restrain  us 
from  bitter  and  taunting  words,  and  indine  us 
to  speak  the  truth  in  love. 

VI.  In  comparing  the  mind  of  the  Church  with 
that  of  the  Popular  Religion,  the  divergence  seems 
widest  in  the  departments  of  Ecclesiastical  Con- 
stitutions and  of  what  is  known  as  Experimental 
Religion. 

A  former  Lecturer  on  this  foundation  called 
attention  to  the  truth  that  Christian  Anthropology 
ranges  itself  under  two  heads,  now  deahng  espe- 
cially with  man's  corporate  life  as  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  God,  and  now  with  the  pro- 
gress of  grace  in  each  man's  heart.^  The  former 
of  these,  too  exclusively  engaged  the  thoughts  of 
the  mediaeval  divines.  The  Reformation  sought 
to  restore  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility  and 
the  privilege  of  immediate  communion  with  God, 
And  in  the  "passionate  reclamation,"  the  just 
balance  between  these  diverse  but  not  antagonis- 
tic views  of  the  Christian  life,  was  very  seriously 
disturbed.  We  deem  it  the  glory  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  that  it  presents  practical  relig- 
ion in  both  of  its  characteristics.  One  does  not 
exclude,  or  contradict,  or  obscure  the  other.  The 
J  Paddock's  Lectures,  1881,  p.  30. 


1 84  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

true  Christian  is  described  as  the  very  member 
of  a  body  corporate,  and  also,  as  one  who  has 
dwelHng  in  his  heart,  the  living  graces  of  Faith, 
Repentance,  Love  and  Holy  Purposes. 

We  live  in  a  period  of  intense  recoil  from  the 
exclusively  corporate  conception  of  religion.  The 
popular  conception  admits  only  the  personal  ele- 
ment. 

If  one  desires  to  carry  with  him  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  crowded  congregation  and  to  v/in  for 
himself  the  name  of  liberality  and  largeness  of 
mind,  his  surest  method  of  success  is  to  teach  that 
the  all-in-all  of  Christianity  is  to  worship  God  in 
Spirit  and  to  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  sincere- 
ly. That  Church-membership  is  matter  of  ex- 
pediency, and  not  of  duty.  That  Sacraments — 
helps  to  some — are  not  necessary  to  all.  That  or- 
ganic unity  is  but  a  dream  ;  and  that  in  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  Churches,  stimulating  each  other's  zeal 
and  offering  in  their  variations  wide  room  for  in- 
dividual predilection,  consists  the  glory  of  mod- 
ern Christendom. 

If  one  would  reach  the  very  pinnacle  of  public 
favor,  let  him  proceed  somewhat  farther,  that  the 
Church  is  a  useful  brace  for  weak  and  flaccid 
natures,  but  a  support  unworthy   of  one  in    full 


The  Church's  Duty  to  Christendom.      185 

spiritual  health  and  vigor.  Let  him  teach  that  to 
place  the  Sacraments  beside  the  Word,  is  to  put 
out  the  candle  of  the  Reformation. 

But  waiving  these  extremists,  the  average  min- 
ister of  the  Popular  Religion,  minimizes  the  cor- 
porate and  sacramental  elements  of  religion  so 
far  as  he  can  do  so  consistently,  with  the  conser- 
vation of  Christian  companionship,  and  of  the 
badges  whereby  religious  people  may  be  visibly 
distinguished  from  those  who  are  not  Christened. 

And  here  is  our  complaint  and  our  lamentation. 
Like  the  Pope,  they  will  not  make  friends  with 
us,  unless  we  put  out  an  eye.  Nothing  less  than 
a  surrender  of  our  deepest  convictions  that  the 
Church  has  a  divine  charter  which  is  not  open  to 
change  or  amendment,  that  the  ministerial  com- 
mission passes  by  direct  descent  from  age  to  age  ; 
that  separation  from  the  historic  body  is  inexcu- 
sable so  long  as  unlawful  terms  of  communion 
are  not  imposed  :  nothing  less  than  a  retreat,  all 
along  the  line,  from  our  most  venerable  entrench- 
ments, will  exempt  us  from  the  charge  of  unchar- 
itable judgment  and  of  ecclesiastical  arrogance 

I  have  suggested  that  there  is  also  a  diver- 
gence in  things  experimental.  In  the  Church, 
as  she  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  her  Creator, 


iS6  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

there  was  no  superfluous  apparatus.  If  we  dis- 
use the  Baptism  of  infants,  or  deny  its  inward 
grace,  for  the  system  of  privilege  and  nurture 
founded  upon  it,  wc  must  substitute  the  Revival. 
If  we  discard  Confirmation,  we  must  summon 
children  to  come  to  a  mourner's  seat  that  they 
may  be  prayed  for.  So  also  of  the  Sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  Men  seek  in  their  fear  and 
weakness  for  encouragement  and  comfort.  This 
Sacrament  is  administered  for  our  comfort.  It 
assures  us,  that  they  who  have  once  bathed  in  the 
laver  of  regeneration,  do  not  by  after-errors,  for- 
feit that  cleansing ;  but  may  be  washed  anew  and 
often  from  the  soil  contracted  in  their  infirmity. 
And  when,  in  present  penitence  and  faith,  we 
have  renewed  the  vow  of  allegiance,  it  assures  us 
by  visible  tokens  formally  delivered  to  us,  that 
we  are  still  members  of  Christ,  and  heirs  through 
hope,  of  His  Everlasting  Kingdom. 

In  the  absence  of  these  consolations  the  man 
is  directed  to  his  spiritual  consciousness.  Person- 
al assurance  of  acceptance  with  God,  is  added  in 
supplement  to  the  conditions  of  Salvation  which 
Apostles  preached.  The  Spirit  witnesses  no  long- 
er by  the  heart-yearnings  He  inspires,  and  the 
fruits  He  matures,  in  the  chastened  life  and  tem- 


The  C  Jul  reus  Duty  to  CJuistendom.      187 

per,  but  by  His  direct  communication.  Hence 
comes  the  superfluity  of  self-examination  :  for 
why  draw  out  the  question  of  our  safety  into  such 
elaboration,  when  God's  Spirit  has  spoken  in  the 
soul  and  left  no  room  for  doubt  ? 

Connected  with  these  is  a  teaching,  too  adven- 
turous to  be  accepted  by  the  mass  of  penitent 
believers,  yet  ever  and  anon  most  earnestly 
pressed  upon  them,  of  a  Perfect  Love  attained  in 
this  present  time,  of  a  Sanctification  which  leaves 
no  room  for  the  dust  and  ashes  of  humiliation 
and  self-reproach. 

There  are  many  good  people  who  verily  be- 
lieve that  in  refusing  to  accept  as  universal  and 
necessary  conditions  of  genuine  spirituality,  the 
instantaneous  conversion,  the  direct  witness,  the 
personal  assurance,  we  convict  ourselves  as  for- 
malists, who  know  not  the  religion  of  the  heart. 

How  then  shall  we  behave  ourselves  under 
these  painful  circumstances  ? 

The  truth  cannot  be  surrendered  or  com- 
promised. It  is  to  be  affirmed  confidently,  calm- 
ly, lovingly,  as  occasion  shall  serve  and  need 
shall  require.  It  is  to  be  exemplified  in  policy 
and  life,  rather  than  disputed  over.  Men  will 
learn  of  themselves  and  judge  right  judgment,  if 


1 88  TJie  CJiUTch  in  the  Nation. 

we  set  plainly  before  them  the  elements  of  the 
calculation,  and  without  over-much  prompting, 
give  them  time  for  determination. 

Christian  souls  grow  weary  of  destructive  crit- 
icism. Let  us,  when  choice  is  allowed  us,  prefer 
to  expound  the  excellence  of  the  things  that  are 
freely  given  us  of  God,  rather  than  dwell  on  the 
mistakes  of  men. 

Constancy  and  forbearance  will  be  the  easier, 
if  we  are  persuaded,  and  upon  just  grounds,  that 
the  time  will  come,  when  longing  eyes  shall  be 
directed  to  this  Church  as  the  centre  and  hope 
of  unity. 

VII.  Division,  in  its  extravagance,  tends  to  its 
own  cure.  To  the  practical  mind  of  the  Ameri- 
can, the  economical  question  is  assuming  great 
interest.  The  waste  of  wealth  and  power,  and 
the  friction  of  machinery  so  complicated,  cannot 
be  ignored.  When  two  or  three  are  set  to  do 
the  work  to  which  one  man  is  adequate,  the  rev- 
enues are  divided,  the  clergy  are  impoverished, 
and  the  ministerial  standard  deteriorates  accord- 
ingly. 

And  some  have  great  searchings  of  spirit,  when, 
after  the  most  plausible  efforts  to  show  that  Pro- 
testant  Christendom  is  one  at  heart,  although 


TJic  CJiurcJi's  Duty  to  Christendom.      189 

many  in  form  ;  the  conviction  presses  hard  upon 
them,  that  behevers  are  not  one  in  the  sense  of 
the  High-priestly  prayer :  are  not  one,  as  the 
Father  and  the  Son  are  one. 

They  recognize  the  fact  that  a  true  unity  im- 
pHes  a  common  ministry,  a  common  faith,  a  com- 
mon worship.  "What  ministry  has  such  prestige 
as  that,  for  most  of  the  centuries,  universally  ac- 
cepted ?  What  formulas  of  belief  so  authorita- 
tive as  the  ancient  Creeds  ?  What  worship  so 
void  of  idiosyncracies,  so  expressive  of  the  needs 
and  aspirations  of  all  true  Christian  souls,  as  some 
pure  specimen  of  the  substantial  Liturgy  ? 

We  may  not  be  blind  to  the  possibility  that 
the  time  may  come  when  organized  bodies  will 
knock  at  our  doors.  I  believe  it  is  more  than 
possible — at  the  least,  it  is  a  contingency  worthy 
to  be  seriously  pondered  in  advance. 

It  is  not  probable  that  they  will  approach  us 
with  an  unconditional  surrender  of  organism  and 
custom,  consenting  to  be  absorbed  into  our  com- 
munion upon  such  terms  as  are  accepted  by  in- 
dividuals, clerical  and  lay,  who  have  drifted  to 
us.  It  may  be,  that  they  desire  these  three  ben- 
efits, the  authentication  of  their  Orders,  the  se- 
curity of  some  external  band  to  resist  disintegra- 


IQO  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

tion  for  trivial  causes,  and  such  safeguards  as  may- 
ensure  the  perpetuation  of  a  true  faith.  To  ob- 
tain these  benefits,  they  would  perchance  make 
concessions  in  matters  of  ritual  and  ceremony, 
but  not  to  the  absolute  destruction  of  their  iden-  , 
tity. 

VIII.  And  this  leads  the  thought  onward  to  a 
larger  problem.  This  nation  is  unique  in  the 
character  of  its  population.  It  is  not  homoge- 
neous. It  is  made  up  of  men  differing  in  race,  in 
original  nationality,  in  language  and  in  temper- 
ament. Germans,  Swedes,  Italians  are  here. 
Black  men,  millions  of  them,  dwell  side  by  side 
with  us,  jealous  of  their  rights  ;  and  red  men, 
thousands  of  them,  need  the  helping  hand  of  re- 
ligion to  protect  them  against  a  civilization 
which  destroys  what  it  does  not  elevate. 

One  Church  may  comprehend  them  all.  For 
one  was  large  enough  at  first  to  embrace  Jew  and 
Gentile,  the  free-born  Roman  and  the  Slave 
Onesimus.  We  cannot  make  or  authenticate 
many  Churches,  however  importunate  the  plead- 
ing; for  the  Church,  the  undefiled,  is  One 

And  yet  the  problem,  although  difiicult,  is  not 
insoluble,  if  it  be  approached  courageously  and 
with  a  common  desire  for  reconciliation,  which 


The   CJitircJis  Duty  to  Christendom.      191 

will  propose  no  ultimatum  not  imperatively  de- 
manded by  the  law  of  God  and  the  invariable  can- 
ons and  customs  of  the  universal  Church.  Among 
the  essential  rights  of  a  National  Church  is  the 
right  to  grow,  the  right  to  adapt  her  arrange- 
ments to  her  own  peculiar  needs. 

The  question  of  our  duty  to  the  colored  race, 
now  most  urgently  pressed  upon  us,  will,  if  it  be 
satisfactorily  determined,  settle  the  principles  by 
which  we  may  be  guided  in  all  the  questions  of 
comprehension  which  may  hereafter  arise. 

How  does  this  case  present  itself?  We  desire 
to  take  the  men  of  African  descent  into  fuh 
communion,  to  share  with  them  all  the  religious 
rights  and  privileges  which  we  ourselves  claim 
and  enjoy,  and  impose  on  them  the  same  yoke  of 
discipline  to  which  we  ourselves  submit. 

But  it  is  agreed  by  those  who  have  this  con- 
summation most  at  heart,  that  to  secure  it  three 
several  concessions  are  needed. 

The  Bishops  proposed  such  enlargement  of 
their  power  of  dispensation  as  might  enable  them 
to  ordain  colored  men,  not  learned  in  ancient 
languages,  prudent,  but  not  possessing  "  extraor- 
dinary strength  of  natural  understanding."  ' 

'  "  Report  on  Papers  from  Sewanee  Conference,  Journal  H. 
of  Bishops,  1883,  p.  124. 


ig2  The  Cluirch  in  the  Nation. 

This  proposition  failed  in  tlie  House  of  Depu- 
ties. 

The  Bishops  next  proposed  tliat  •'  in  any  dio- 
cese containing  a  large  number  of  persons  for 
whom  by  reason  of  peculiarity  of  race  or  language 
it  is  expedient  to  make  special  religious  provis- 
ion, it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Bishop  and  Conven- 
tion of  the  same  to  constitute  such  population  in- 
to a  special  missionary  organization,  under  the 
charge  of  the  Bishop."  It  was  proposed  that 
they  should  have  an  Executive  Committee  to 
act  as  a  Council  of  advice  to  the  Bishop  ;  that  they 
should  be  superintended  by  an  officer  of  the 
Bishop's  appointment :  that  they  should  be  con- 
vened in  Convocation  for  the  furtherance  of  their 
work. 

This  second  concession  failed  to  receive  the 
acquiescence  of  the  Deputies.  The  third,  touch- 
ing the  rubrical  relaxation  and  the  liturgical  lib- 
erty to  meet  the  case  of  the  imperfectly  educated, 
was  not  brought  forward. 

It  appears  then,  that  we  have  already  entered, 
however  unsuccessfully,  upon  the  discussion,  how 
shall  we  in  this  Church  comprehend  under  a  com- 
mon discipline  men  of  all  races  and  of  all  lan- 
guages, in  such  wise,  as  not  to  disregard  the  ties  of 


The  Churc/is  Duty  to   Ch'istendom.       193 

nature;  of  charitably  adapting  our  offices  and  can- 
ons to  their  edification,  rather  than  violently  ac- 
commodating them  to  a  rigid  system.^ 

IX.  I  venture,  with  all  humility,  to  suggest  that 
the  Bishops  have  not  erred  in  the  solution,  as  far 
as  proposed. 

We  must  not  demand  impossibihties.  We 
must  have  Negro  and  Indian  priests  who  know 
no  Latin.  Only  those  ordained  under  such  dis- 
pensation should  not  demand  a  vote  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical legislature  until  they  are  qualified,  as 
white  men  are  required  to  be  qualified,  to  dis- 
charge so  responsible  an  office. 

Again,  the  Church  is  one  house,  but  in  the  one 
house  there  may  be  many  apartments.  A  house- 
hold discriminated  is  not  a  house  divided.  If  one 
roof  cover  us,  and  one  patriarchal  authority  guide 
us,  and  one  table  be  open  to  all  the  children,  they 
may  be  permitted  a  certain  freedom  in  the  volun- 
tary grouping,  in  the  ordering  of  their  chambers 
and  the  shape  of  their  furniture. 

Or  to  speak  without  a  figure,  if  the  colored 
race,  or  the  German,  or  the  Scandinavian:  or  if  any 
considerable  body  of  Christians,  now  an  indepen- 

'  For  an  outline  of  the  discussion  on  these  subjects,  in  the 
House  of  Bishops,  sec  Appendix  II, 

13 


194  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

dent  sect,  shall  cotne  to  us  and  ask  to  be  received 
into  our  communion  ;  accepting  all  necessary  ob- 
ligations ;  yet  asking  that  they  may  be  allowed  a 
subordinate  organization  of  their  own  ;  permission 
in  matters  of  detail,  financial  and  administrative, 
to  regulate  their  own  affairs ;  indulgence  in  some 
harmless  traditions  and  customs  ;  we  need  not 
repel  them  with  a  cold  non-possumus.  Unity 
consists  with  variety.  Home  is  a  thing  compo- 
site. It  is  true  on  earth  as  in  heaven.  In  my 
Father's  house  {oudix)  there  are  many  {^}j.ovai) 
abidiiig-plaees. 

Furthermore  it  was  agreed,  that  while  the  Di- 
ocesan should  reserve  full  jurisdiction  over  all  the 
clergy  and  people,  he  would  need  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  special  department,  the  assistance 
of  a  "Superintendent." 

Have  we  not  need  to  re-open  the  question  of 
the  Chorepiscopus,  the  Suffragan  Bishop  now 
forbidden  by  canon,  not  by  the  Constitution  ? 

If  the  Sewanee  solution  be  accepted,  well  may 
the  Superintendent  be  a  Suffragan  Bishop,  in  of- 
fice one  with  the  Diocesan,  in  race  and  language 
and  sympathies  one  with  the  people  to  whom  he 
specially  ministers ;  a  daysman  betwixt  them, 
that  may  lay  his  hand  upon  them  both. 


LECTURE    VI. 

The  Church's  Claim  Upon  the   Loyal 
Service  of  Her  Clergy. 


LECTURE  VI. 

THE  CHURCH'S  CLAIM  UPON  THE  LOYAL  SERVICE 
OF  HER  CLERGY. 

"  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but  of  peace,  as  in  all 
churches  of  the  saints." — i  Cor.  xiv.  33. 

T  X  THEN  the  Eternal  Son,  in  whom  dwelt  the 
^  '  fulness  of  wisdom,  came  to  earth  upon  a 
mission  of  redemption,  He  fully  accepted  that  sub- 
ordination of  office  which  is  involved  in  the  very- 
conception  of  ambassage.  "My  meat  is  to  do  the 
will  of  him  that  sent  me  and  to  finish  his  work." 
"  I  must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me." 
"  My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me." 
These  are  some  of  the  many  utterances  which 
attest  His  acceptance  of  a  stewardship  in  which 
He  must  be  found  faithful. 

Illustrious  example  !  To  seek  Another's  glory, 
to  finish  Another's  work,  to  enunciate  Another's 
words,  to  do  Another's  will :  thus  did  the  great 
Minister  of  righteousness  describe  the  spirit  and 

197 


igS  The  CImrch  in  the  Nation. 

the  end  of  His  earthly  ministration.  The  example 
becomes  the  more  binding  in  view  of  that  word, 
As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you. 
The  authority  thus  transmitted  is,  hke  His  own, 
an  ambassage  under  instructions. 

n.  I  am  to  speak  to  you,  at  this  our  last  con- 
ference, of  the  Duty  of  the  Church  to  demand  the 
Loyal  Service  of  her  Clergy :  and  by  inference 
of  the  obligation  resting  on  every  Bishop,  Priest 
and  Deacon,  to  regard  his  office  as  a  trust,  to  be 
discharged  strictly  within  the  terms  and  the  lim- 
itations under  which  it  was  confided  to  him.  And 
I  frankly  confess,  that  in  all  that  has  been  here- 
tofore spoken,  I  have  had  this  end  chiefly  in  view. 
For  I  do  believe,  in  the  depths  of  my  soul,  that 
the  loyal  ministry  is  the  only  safe  and  happy  min- 
istry:  and  that  the  disloyalty  of  using  official  posi- 
tion for  the  promulgation  of  individual  fancies,  is 
the  evil  most  to  be  feared  in  the  magnificent 
work  which  lies  before  us. 

Of  the  late  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Jackson,  it 
was  said,  "  His  forecast  of  the  Church's  future 
was  hopeful  even  to  joyousness."  '  There  is 
nothing  to  dim  the  like  forecast  for  ourselves,  if 
only  the  Church  shall  courageously    accept   the 

'  Archbishop  Canterbury's  Memorial  Sermon. 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    199 

responsibility  of  rule,  and  her  Clergy  shall  be 
examples  to  the  flock  in  dutiful  obedience  to  her 
lawful  commands. 

III.  When  He,  to  whom  "all  power"  was  given, 
had  reached  the  limit  appointed  for  an  earth- 
ly ministry.  He  made  over  a  measure  of  this  gift 
to  the  Universal  Church.  To  her  it  belongs  to 
teach  the  nations,  to  gather  out  of  them  a  great 
flock  in  all  the  parts  of  the  world,  and  to  rule 
that  flock  prudently  with  all  her  power. 

In  the  very  nature  of  things,  there  must  be  a 
division  of  labor  and  responsibility.  Every  farm 
is  divided  into  fields,  every  factory  into  depart- 
ments, every  hospital  into  wards.  So  must  the 
Church  be  distributed  into  provinces,  so  must  the 
Catholic  body  hold  the  particular  Church 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  affairs  within 
the  limits  assigned  her,  and  attribute  to  her  all 
the  powers  necessary  to  meet  that  responsibility. 

We  have  heard  many  addresses  in  behalf  of 
Foreign  Missions,  in  which  it  was  rightly  urged 
that  each  several  soul,  certified  of  its  redemption, 
owns  itself  a  debtor  to  every  soul  of  man  included 
in  that  redemption.  And  then  it  has  been  fur- 
ther urged  that  we  have  no  right  to  discriminate  : 
that  this  Church,  and  each  one  of  us  by  deputy, 


200  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

should  aim  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  "  every  crea- 
ture." 

We  are  conscious  of  a  fallacy  here.  We  do 
not  deny  the  proposition  that  a  soul  in  Central 
Africa  is  worth  as  much  as  a  soul  in  Texas,  but 
yet  it  seems  somehow  irrelevant.  All  becomes 
plain  when  we  remind  ourselves  that  the  world- 
wide duty  is  confided  to  the  universal  Church,  and 
that  in  the  assignment  of  office,  the  particular 
Church,  while  indifferent  to  none,  while  ready  to 
do  good  to  all,  must  devote  herself  especially  to 
the  task  which,  in  the  ordering  of  Providence, 
none  other  can  so  well  discharge. 

So  then,  the  Church  in  the  United  States  has 
the  charge  and  government  therein,  and  is  quoad 
hoc  the  accredited  representative  of  the  Catholic 
body :  and  so  also,  individual  allegiance  is  due 
to  her  directly,  and  through  her,  to  the  universal 
Church. 

In  view  of  this  grave  and  inalienable  respon- 
sibility, it  is  for  the  Church  to  prescribe  the  Doc- 
trine that  shall  be  taught,  the  Ceremonies  to  be 
observed,  and  the  Discipline  to  be  enforced. 

IV.  But  again  :  some  part  of  her  offices  the 
Church  can  discharge  in  the  way  of  conciliar  ac- 
tion :  but  the  most  of  them,  and  the  most  impor- 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    201 

tant  of  them,  must  be  delegated  to  individuals  ; 
and  so  when  Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons  are 
commissioned,  they  are  accredited  in  their  seve- 
ral capacities  as  her  representatives,  and  the  com- 
mission is,  in  effect,  a  power  of  attorney  to  act 
in  her  behalf  and  to  speak  in  her  name. 

While  membership  in  the  Church  is  a  personal 
right,  never  to  be  abridged  except  for  cause ; 
office  is  not  a  right,  but  a  privilege  to  be  con- 
ferred, in  utter  indifference  to  any  considerations, 
save  the  glory  of  God  and  the  edifying  of  the 
Church.  The  theory,  at  least,  is  of  selection  ;  of 
the  "choice  of  fit  persons  to  serve  in  the  sacred 
ministry." 

The  men  thus  called  are  not  hastily  sent  out. 
There  is  a  season  interposed,  of  study  and  of 
preparation,  examinations  being  had  at  intervals 
to  determine  proficiency  in  sacred  studies  and 
aptitude  to  discharge  the  sacred  ministry.  And 
this  delay  serves  another  valuable  use.  It  guards 
the  novice  against  precipitation  and  mere  im- 
pulse. It  gives  him  ample  time  to  decide  wheth- 
er he  can  conscientiously  accept  a  trust,  and  ad- 
minister it  according  to  its  terms. 

Bear  with  me,  while  I  emphasize  some  of  the 
features  of  the    Ordination   itself     The    faithful 


202  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

people  have  their  rights.  They  may  demand 
some  assurance  that  shepherds,  not  wolves,  are 
to  be  sent  among  them.  Hence  the  public  ad- 
ministration before  a  congregation  representa- 
tive of  the  community,  with  invitation  to  "Good 
people  "  to  show  cause,  if  cause  there  be,  why 
the  ordination  should  not  proceed,  with  recog- 
nition of  the  right  of  the  congregation  to  under- 
stand "  the  minds  and  wills  "  of  such  as  are  to  be 
ordered. 

And  then  pledges  are  demanded,  with  the 
avowed  purpose  that  "  this  your  promise  may 
the  more  move  you  to  your  duties."  In  the 
preliminary  Declaration,  and  in  the  public  prom- 
ises, if  language  has  any  meaning,  the  Church 
demands  and  the  Candidate  agrees,  that  it  is 
consistent  with  his  private  judgment,  and  he  binds 
himself  in  conscience,  to  teach  as  true,  and  as  the 
paramount  and  all-saving  truth,  the  Book  which 
this  Church  has  received  as  God's  holy  word, 
and  the  doctrine  which  she  has  deduced  there- 
from. He  further  promises  in  the  worship  of 
Almighty  God,  to  conform  to  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies by  this  Church  prescribed ;  consents,  in 
sum,  to  minister  the  Doctrine  and  Sacraments  and 
the  Discipline  of  this  Church  as  the  Lord  hath 


The  ClmrcJi's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    203 

commanded,  AND  AS  THIS  CHURCH    HATH    RE- 
CEIVED THE  SAME. 

A  promise  so  deliberate  and  so  sacred,  stands 
forever  inviolable,  so  long  as  we  hold  the  com- 
mission whereof  it  is  the  condition  precedent. 

V.  To  all  these  it  may  be  opposed,  and  the 
replies  are  very  full  of  truth,  that  ministers  are 
not  machines,  but  men :  that  mechanical  service 
and  servile  repetition  of  formula,  are  poor  things 
when  set  side  by  side  with  the  intelligent  expo- 
sition, the  free  range  of  thought  and  imagination, 
the  changeful  variety  of  forms  and  practical 
methods,  where  individuality  is  not  stamped  out 
of  existence,  and  where  the  manifestations  of  the 
Spirit,  individually  distributed  for  the  common 
profit,  are  not  fettered  in  their  workings  by  the 
arbitrary  and  the  technical. 

Or  else,  that  we  are  Catholic  Priests,  as  well  as 
American,  and  as  such  claim  for  our  lawful  herit- 
age every  thing  in  doctrine  and  ritual  which  is 
not  in  terms  forbidden  to  us. 

Or  else,  that  this  allegation  of  Church  authority 
as  paramount  to  individual  freedom,  is  but  the  at- 
tenuated reproduction  of  an  exploded  Infallibility. 

Or  else,  that  the  Prayer  Book,  were  it  as 
voluminous  as  the  largest  Encyclopedia,  could 


204  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

not  prescribe  all  the  possible  details  attendant 
on  sacred  ministration ;  and  were  it  as  brief  as 
the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  no  honest  man  could 
say,  "  These  are  just  the  words  and  phrases, 
which  more  precisely  and  exactly  than  any 
others  express  my  own  convictions." 

These  objections  I  desire  to  meet  with  all  pos- 
sible fairness  and  respect. 

VI.  Ministers  are  not  machines.  Conceding 
to  the  utmost  that  a  ministry  with  no  room  for 
individualism  would  be  singularly  narrow  and 
lifeless,  is  it  inevitable  that  submission  to  author- 
ity must  be  rejected  as  destructive  of  it?  Every 
where  in  nature  we  see  harmony  that  grows  out 
of  discords,  peace  that  comes  in  the  reconciliation 
of  antagonisms.  In  chemistry,  the  strongest  af- 
finities exist  between  the  most  dissimilar  sub- 
stances ;  and  when  combination  ensues,  the 
compounds  so  formed  are  the  most  permanent. 
So  also  in  the  mechanical  forces.  Mere  attrac- 
tion would  soon  end  in  absolute  rest  and 
absence  of  energy,  were  it  not  met  by  re- 
pulsive force,  such  as  the  centrifugal  tendency 
of  the  revolving  planets,  which  prevents  their 
falling   on    the  sun,    and   the    molecular    repul- 


The  CJmrcJis  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    205 

sion  to  which   the  elasticity  of  most  bodies    is 
due.' 

The  first  problem  we  encounter  in  religion  is 
to  reconcile  two  realities,  diverse  and  sometimes 
antagonistic,  God's  will  and  man's  will ;  and  in 
the  Church,  God's  authority,  and  her  own,  as  by 
Him  delegated,  on  the  one  hand  ;  and  on  the 
other,  individual  responsibility  and  by  conse- 
quence individual  liberty  of  thought  and  act, 
have  need  to  be  so  asserted  as  that  neither  shall 
be  paralyzed  or  destroyed.  To  demand  absolute 
identity  of  opinion  on  all  doctrinal  points,  and  an 
unreasoning  performance  of  routine  duties,  with- 
out play  for  the  various  gifts  and  tastes  of  indi- 
vidual officers,  would  secure  uniformity,  but  it 
would  possess  neither  Hfe  nor  beauty.  While  for 
the  Church  to  bestow  commissions,  as  it  were  in 
blank,  authorizing  men  to  teach  in  her  behalf  any 
thing  which  they  sincerely  believe,  and  to  con- 
duct worship  and  administer  sacraments  as  they 
may  deem  most  expedient,  is  to  subvert  order 
and  introduce  confusion.  It  is  to  abdicate  her 
high  functions  as  pillar  and  ground,  witness  and 
keeper  of  the  truth.     All  questions  of  degree  are 

'  I  have  copied  here  a  paragraph  from  "The  Continuity  of 
Law,"  an  address  to  the  Convention  of  East  on,  1884. 


206  TJie  ChinxJi  in  the  Nation. 

delicate,  and  the  question  here  is  whether  au- 
thority and  hberty,  stabihty  and  elasticity,  rev- 
elation and  reason,  in  fine,  do  each  in  its  turn  find 
suitable  recognition  in  the  complex  administra- 
tion of  the  Church, 

Are  her  clergy  then  unduly  straitened  ?  Bear 
in  mind  their  liberty  of  prophesying,  for  with  few 
exceptions,  all  of  us  are  preachers.  We  have 
abundant  opportunity  to  present  sacred  truth  in 
our  own  language,  under  our  own  illustrations, 
and  in  such  garb  as  we  deem  most  suitable  for 
edification.  We  do  not  speak  with  a  sword  sus- 
pended over  us:  for  mere  mistake  does  not  ex- 
pose us  to  penalties.  To  constitute  an  offence, 
one  must  teach  advisedly  some  erroneous  doc- 
trine. '  Opportunity  has  never  yet  been  refused 
to  amend  a  hasty  statement,  liable  to  misconcep- 
tion, and  the  prosecution  always  lapses  Avhen 
the  accused  declares  that  he  will  not  persist  in 
the  teaching. 

See  here  the  respect  shown  to  the  individual 
conscience.     The  Church  meddles  not  with  the 

1  "Prepared  as  I  am  (believing  it  to  be  the  righteous  intention 
of  the  Church)  to  grant  to  individual  minds  a  large  latitude  of 
statement,  I  cannot  allow  this  liberty  to  extend  to  a  categori . 
cal  denial  of  our  dogmatic  formularies." — S.OxontoMr.  Allies, 
Life  of  Wilberforce,  Vol.  2,  chap.  I. 


The  ChitrcJis  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    207 

man's  thoughts.  If  he  has  in  his  heart  turned 
traitor  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  she  leaves 
him  to  be  judged  by  the  One  Heart-searcher. 
She  herself  intervenes  only  when  erroneous  utter- 
ance threatens  to  infect  the  flock.  She  does  not 
enforce  truth-teaching  by  process  of  law. 

We  may,  if  we  can  find  listeners,  preach  ser- 
mons savorless  of  all  rehgion  without  penal  con- 
sequences. Great  is  the  liberty  of  prophesying  ! 
Freely  used,  and  sometimes  abused  !  In  this  as- 
pect the  Church  is  an  indulgent  matron.  But  the 
gentlest  of  mothers  rages  when  the  life  or  inno- 
cence of  her  children  is  imperilled.  There  is  a  line 
which  the  Clergy  may  not  overpass.  She  says  to 
them  plainly,  you  shall  not  call  yourself  by  my 
name,  while  you  hinder  or  slander  God's  word 
written,  or  deny  its  profitableness  to  men,  the 
truth  of  its  history  and  the  inspiration  of  .its 
utterances.  You  shall  not  contradict  the  defini- 
tions of  doctrine  which  this  national  Church  has 
deliberately  promulgated  for  the  edification  of 
the  people,  and  to  which  you  have  as  deliberate- 
ly assented.  Is  this  to  turn  a  man  into  a  ma- 
chine ?  I  answer  no  ;  it  is  to  elevate  the  man  into 
an  ambassador.  Take  away  these  restraints 
upon  your  liberty,  and  you    arc  left   a  scribe, 


2o8  The  Church  hi  the  Nation. 

a  disputant,  building  the  edifice  of  your  life-work 
upon  the  uncertain  foundation  of  your  personal 
genius ;  and  when  you  die,  your  thoughts  shall 
perish  with  you.  But  if  you  have  learned,  like 
the  Baptist,  so  to  merge  your  personality  in  your 
office  that  you  have  little  patience  with  the  enqui- 
ry. Who  art  thou  :  if  you  are  content  to  be  a  voice 
in  the  wilderness,  uttering  a  message  in  no  sense 
your  own,  save  that  you  believe  it  and  love  it, 
then  will  men  marvel  at  the  calm  and  restful  au- 
thority with  which  you  speak.  Then  will  you 
build  upon  a  foundation  that  cannot  be  moved : 
and  when  you  are  dead  and  gone,  the  gold,  sil- 
ver and  precious  stones  of  the  superstructure  shall 
still  abide. 

VII.  Again,  we  are  Catholics,  and  claim  as  our 
heritage  the  undoubted  doctrines  and  practices  of 
the  Universal  Church. 

In  no  sense  and  in  no  degree  has  the  Anglican 
branch  of  the  Church  invented  a  religion  of  her 
own.  "  We  use  the  ceremonies,  observations  and 
sacraments  of  our  religion,  as  the  Apostles  and 
first  Fathers  of  the  Primitive  Church  did,"  is  a 
fair  expression  of  her  oft-repeated  affirmations. 

It  is  conceivable  that  she  has  not  kept  her 
pledges.     She  may  have  suppressed  or  obscured 


The  CJiurch's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.   209 

blessed  truths  affirmed  by  universal  consent :  she 
may  have  imported  into  her  standards,  novelties 
for  which  no  such  consent  can  be  pretended.  You 
have  the  right  herein  to  search  her  to  the  utter- 
most. If  the  allegation  be  sustained,  although  it 
be  safe  to  continue  in  her  communion,  to  accept 
her  Orders  is  to  become  partaker  of  her  fault. 

There  are  but  few  earnest  souls  who  have 
failed  to  receive  some  hard  blows  from  Giant 
Despair,  or  from  his  wife  Diffidence.  Few  but 
have  lain  in  an  ague-fit  upon  the  dungeon  floor 
of  Doubting  Castle.  Whatever  be  the  moan 
that  issues  from  the  burdened  soul,  whether  it  be 
the  question,  Is  there  a  personal  God ;  is  there 
a  historic  Christ ;  or  Is  there  a  Church  worthy  of 
my  allegiance ;  those  who  have  fought  their  way 
to  the  repose  of  conviction,  unite  in  the  same 
council  concerning  them  all.  The  truth  is  nev- 
er to  be  feared.  No  objection,  seemingly  forci- 
ble, is  to  be  dismissed  in  terror,  lest  an  answer 
cannot  be  found.  Come  out  of  that  dark  cell  of 
mental  brooding,  and  let  the  clear  sunlight  of 
reason  and  of  evidence  illuminate  the  contro- 
versy. 

The  doctrines  or  usages,  said  to  be  obscured 
or  disused  among  us,  and  which  it  is  claimed,  the 
14 


2IO  The  CJmrch  in  the  Nation. 

Priest,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  Catholic  commis- 
sion, has  the  right  to  supplement,  are  not  numer- 
ous. Sacramental  Confession,  Eucharistic  Adora- 
tion, Solitary  Celebration,  are  the  burning  ques- 
tions ;  and  to  these  may  be  added  Prayers  for  the 
Dead. 

Grouping  together  the  first  three  of  these,  the 
question  is  not  whether  a  sinful  soul  may  not 
unburden  itself  to  the  Priest,  and  the  Priest 
comfort  that  soul  with  the  benefit  of  a  personal 
absolution.  This  is  expressly  advised  in  the  cell 
of  a  man  condemned  to  death,  and  by  parity 
of  reason,  may  be  extended  to  urgent  cases  of 
spiritual  distress. 

Neither  is  it  denied  to  any,  to  worship  Christ 
really  present  in  the  Eucharist.  Nor  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  Eucharist  impugned  as -a  Memorial 
Sacrifice,  in  which  material  gifts  are  consecrated 
and  offered  to  Almighty  God,  and  in  which  the 
Church  on  earth  unites  with  the  High-Priest 
passed  within  the  veil,  to  plead  the  merits  and 
the  memory  of  the  one  perfected  and  sufficient 
sacrifice,  oblation  and  satisfaction. 

But  if  one  pretend  that  the  strain  of  the  univer- 
sal tradition  requires  him  to  teach,  that  without 
the  preface  of  a  personal  absolution,  the  Holy  Sa- 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    211 

crament  cannot  usually  be  received  in  the  fulness 
of  its  blessing :  or  that  while  the  elements  are 
present  in  their  forms,  the  substance  is  no  longer 
bread  and  wine,  but  Christ :  or  else  that  the  par- 
ticipation by  the  faithful  is  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence at  the  Eucharistic  Celebration,  then  an  issue 
of  fact  is  raised.  We  have  no  such  custom: 
neither  had  the  Churches  of  God. 

Carter  of  Clewer — I  reverence  him  as  among 
the  saints  of  our  day — is  the  well-known  advocate 
of  Sacramental  Confession.  When  the  testimony 
of  antiquity  is  under  his  review,  like  an  honest 
man,  he  sums  it  up  in  the  statement :  "Two  facts 
therefore  may  be  considered  to  be  established,  (i) 
that  the  original  penitential  system,  the  only  one 
known  to  the  Church  of  the  primitive  ages,  was  the 
public  discipline  ;  (2)  that  private  confession  was 
then  in  frequent  use,  but  only  in  connexion  with 
the  public  discipline,  and  not  as  a  means  of  ob- 
taining private  absolution."  ^ 

So,  also,  Keble  writes  in  defence  of  Eucharis- 
tic Adoration.  But  if  any  pretends  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  teach  this  doctrine  by  a  ritual  obser- 
vance, let  him  listen  to  Keble's  testimony : 

"  The  primitive  Liturgies  are  almost  or  alto- 

'  Doctrine  of  Absolution,  p .  24. 


212  The  CJinrcJi  in  the  Nation. 

gather  silent  as  to  any  worship  of  Christ's  Body 
and  Blood  after  consecration.  We  find  in  them 
neither  any  form  of  prayer  addressed  in  special  to 
His  holy  Humanity  so  present,  nor  any  rubric 
enjoining  adoration,  inward  or  outward."  ^ 

Is  it  Catholic  for  the  Priest  to  celebrate  alone  ? 
Let  Bellarmine  certify  us  of  the  facts.  "  No- 
where is  it  expressly  read  that  the  sacrifice  was 
offered  by  the  ancients  without  the  Communion 
of  one  or  more  besides  the  Priest  himself" 

Bellarmine  proceeds  to  defend  the  solitary  mass 
by  four  conjectures — I  am  content  barely  to  state 
them,  asking  you  to  observe  the  dates.  The 
first  conjecture  rests  on  an  inference  drawn  from  a 
direction  of  a  Council  of  Nantes  of  date  658,  that 
Presbyters  are  not  to  celebrate  mass  alone,  unless 
they  have  one  person  at  least  to  make  the  re- 
sponses :  and  also  on  a  decree  of  the  twelfth 
Council  of  Toledo,  of  date  681,  rebuking  certain 
Priests  who  did  not  commune  when  offering  the 
sacrifice.  What  sort  of  sacrifice  is  that,  says  the 
Council,  at  which  he  who  sacrifices  thinks  it  not 
worth  while  to  participate  ? 

The  second  conjecture  rests  on  the  allegation 
that  there  were  Priests  who,  having  no  cure  of 
1  Eucharistic  Adoration,  chap.  iii.  sec.  2, 


The  Cliurclis  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.   213 

souls,  could  not  administer,  but  who  undoubt- 
edly celebrated  ;  the  case  of  the  Presbyter  Paul- 
inus,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Nola. 

The  third  conjecture  is  founded  on  Chrysos- 
tom's  complaint,  "  In  vain  is  had  the  daily 
oblation  when  there  is  none  to  partake  with 
us ;"  and  a  saying  of  Ambrose  that  the  Greeks 
were  wont  to  commune  post  annum. 

The  fourth  conjecture  refers  to  religious  services 
held  for  a  special  purpose,  at  which  it  is  improb- 
able that  there  was  an  administration.  The  illus- 
trations are,  St  Augustine's  offering  for  his  moth- 
er at  her  grave,  and  a  sacrifice  by  one  of  his 
Presbyters  at  a  country  house  to  drive  away  evil 
spirits.^ 

'  BELLARMINE.  De  Missa,  Lib.  II.  Cap.  IX. 
Tertio  probatur  ex  consuetudine  veterum.  Nam  etiamsi 
nusquam  expresse  legamus  a  veteribus  oblatum  sacrificium  sine 
communione  alicuius,  vel  aliquorum,  praeter  ipsum  sacerdotem  : 
tamen  id  possumus  ex  conjecturis  facile  colligere.  Prima  con- 
jectura  ex  Concilio  Nannetensi,  Cap  30,  quod  citaturab  Inone 
in  decret,  par  3,  Cap.  70,  ubi  jubentur  presbyteri  non  celebrare 
soli  Missam,  nisi  habeant  saltern  unum  secum,  qui  respondeat. 
Ex  quointelligimus  quosdam  plane  solos  celebrare  solitos  Missae 
sacrificium  :  et  proinde  sine  communicantibus.  Item  ex  Concilio 
TOLETANO  XII.  can.  5,  ubi  graviter  reprehenduntur  quidam  sac- 
erdotes,  qui  sacrificium  offerentes  non  communicabant.  Quale 
^/ inquit  Concilium,  illud  sacrificium,  cui  nee  ipse  sacrificans 
participasse  diptoscitur  ?     Quae  verba  satis  aperte  indicant,  in- 


214  The   Chtirch  iii  the  Nation. 

Such  is  literally  the  best  showing  that  can  be 
made  by  the  ablest  controversialist  for  the  solita- 
ry mass. 

Much  indulgence  is  conceded  both  theoreti- 

eiuismodi  sacrificio  nullum  omnino  fuisse,  qui  communicaret  ;  et 
tamen  Concilium  non  rcquirit,  nisi  ut  sacerdos  ipse  communicet 
proinde  admittit  tanquam  rata,  et  ut  apparet,  usitata  sacrificia, 
in  quibus  solus  communicat  sacerdos.  Est  autem  hoc  Concilium 
ante  annos  circiter  CM.  celebratum. 

Secunda  conjectura.  Quidam  initiabantur  sacris  absq. ;  ulla 
certa  procuratione  animarum,  qui  proinde  non  poterant  uUi  Sac- 
ramentum  administrare,  et  tamen  sine  dubio  Missas  celebrabant. 
Exemplum habemus  in  S.Paulino  Nolano,  qui  presbyter  ordinatus 
fuit,  ut  ipse  scribit  Epist.  6  ad  Severum,  in  Sacerdotium  Domini, 
sed  nuUi  certse  Ecclesiae  alligatus. 

Tertia  conjectura.  Plurimi  sacerdotes  quotidie  celebrabant, 
ut  supra  ostendimus,  et  tamen  populus  in  multis  locis  raro  admo- 
dum  communicabat,  ut  vel  ex  ilia  querimonia  Chrysostomi 
cognosci  potest,  quae  habetur  homil.  3.  in  epist.  ad  Ephes.  Frus- 
TRAjinquit,  habetur  quotidiana  ablatio,  cum  nemo  sit,  qid  simul 
participet.  Et  homil.  17.  in  epist.  ad  Hebr.  scribit,  plurimos  tan- 
tum  semel  in  anno  ad  Sacramenti  Communionem  accessisse. 
Ambrosius  etiam  lib.  5  de  Sacrament.  Cap.4.  dicit,  Graecos  post 
annum  communicare  solere. 

QuARTA  conjectura.  Multa  sacra  fiebant  pro  caussa  ita  par- 
ticular!, ut  non  fit  ullo  modo  verisimile,  ministratam  fuisse  Com- 
munionem in  eiusmodi  sacris  ;  ut  exempli  caussa,  cum  scribit  Au- 
gustinus  lib.  9.  Confess.  Cap.  12,  oblatum  sacrificium  pro  matre 
sua,  cadavere  juxta  sepulchrum  constitute  :  et  cum  scribit  lib.  22. 
Civit.  cap.  8.  unum  e  suis  presbyteris  sacrificium  obtulisse  in  do- 
mo  rustica,  ad  eandem  domum  a  malignorum  spirituum  vexa- 
tione  liberandam.  Sed  adversariorum  argumenta  soluamus. — 
Finis,  Cap.  IX. 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy,    215 

cally  and  practically,  to  theological  explanation 
and  pastoral  counsel.  But  if  one  without  war- 
rant of  the  National  Church  interposes  between 
God's  child  and  God's  altar,  private  absolution  as 
a  spiritual  necessity ;  or  imports  into  the  liturgy 
acts  of  adoration,  defining  the  mode  of  the  Real 
Presence;  or  severs  the  sacrifice  from  the  feeding 
on  the  sacrifice ;  let  him  not  plead  the  inherent 
rights  of  a  Catholicity  which  antedates  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  The  overwhelming  evi- 
dence is  against  him. 

And  what  about  Prayers  for  the  Dead  ? 

We  cannot  say  the  Lord's  Prayer  without 
praying  for  the  faithful  dead.  The  kingdom  of 
God  has  come  to  us  who  live,  replete  with  bless- 
ing and  with  hope  ;  to  those  who  are  gone  before, 
with  rest  and  consolation.  But  all  on  earth  and 
in  Paradise,  alike  await  the  risen  glory,  the  re- 
demption of  the  body  and  the  beatific  vision.  To 
invoke  the  utmost  coming  of  the  Kingdom  is  to 
invite  a  wealth  of  blessing  yet  in  store  for  quick 
and  dead. 

And  in  solemn  offices  we  make  mention  of  the 
sainted  dead,  and  according  to  the  contrast  em- 
phasized between  the  "joy  and  felicity"  that  are 
now,  and  the  "  perfect  consummation  and  bliss" 


2i6  TJic  CJiiircli  ill  the  Nation. 

that  are  yet  to  be  :  we  ask  of  God  to  bless  us  and 
them  together. 

Further  than  this,  many  of  us  hesitate  to  go. 
We  know  so  Uttle  of  the  needs  of  a  disembodied 
spirit,  we  are  so  utterly  in  the  dark  as  to  the 
transition  from  the  imperfect  sainthness  of  the 
saintliest  here,  to  the  sinlessness  of  the  creature 
finally  absolved  by  the  Judge  Himself  in  the 
presence  of  the  universe,  that  it  suffices  us,  at 
the  grave  of  our  dear  ones,  to  thank  God  that 
they  are  safe  and  resting,  and  to  pray  God  that 
none  of  His  dear  promises  concerning  them  may 
fail  of  their  fulfilment. 

We  know  how  to  carry  with  us  to  God's  altar 
a  precious  name  and  memory.  But  a  mass  with 
a  specified  intention,  is  at  variance  with  our  con- 
ception of  the  all-comprehensive  intercession  of 
what  we  call  a  celebration. 

Others  there  are,  who  look  regretfully  to  the 
loss  of  formulas  once  used  by  Englishmen :  the 
larger  thanksgiving  of  King  Edward's  book  for 
"  this  thy  servant,  whom  thou  hast  delivered 
from  the  miseries  of  this  wretched  world,  from 
the  body  of  death  and  all  temptation.  And,  as 
we  trust,  has  brought  his  soul,  which  he  commit- 
ted into  thy  holy  hands  into  sure  consolation  and 


The  ChnrcJis  Claim  ttpon  Her  Clergy.    217 

rest :  "  and  the  amplified  intercession  "  that  the 
sins  which  he  committed  in  this  world  be  not  im- 
puted unto  him:  but  that  he,  escaping  the  gates 
of  hell,  and  pains  of  eternal  darkness,  may  ever 
dwell  in  the  region  of  light,  with  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,  in  the  place  where  there  is  no  weeping, 
sorrow  nor  heaviness  ;  and  when  the  dreadful  day 
of  the  general  resurrection  shall  come,  make  him 
to  rise  also  with  the  Just  and  Righteous,  and  re- 
ceive this  body  again  to  glory,  then  made  pure 
and  incorruptible." 

They  cite  large  authority  for  such  interces- 
sions, drawn  from  the  purest  sources  of  antiquity, 
before  Purgatory  was  invented. 

But  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  Church 
has  large  discretion  in  the  varying  of  her  liturgy. 
It  seems  most  reasonable,  that  devotions  should 
be  adapted  to  the  truest  needs  of  the  worshippers  ; 
that  in  matters  not  plainly  delivered,  not  divinely 
enjoined,  the  rule  of  devotion  may  vary.  If  it 
shall  seem  that  the  religious  imagination  peering 
into  the  land  of  spirit,  has  run  wild  and  with- 
drawn men's  thoughts  from  the  simpler  and  more 
necessary  truths  and  duties,  the  Church  in  each 
age  may  discreetly  narrow  the  outlets  of  devotion 
in  that  direction.     We  have  the  right  to  expect 


2i8  TJic  C /lurch  in  the  Nation. 

of  the  Church  a  Hturgy  essentially  Catholic.  We 
have  no  right  to  demand  that  it  shall  be  invaria- 
ble in  the  intensity  of  its  statements  and  the  am- 
plification of  its  formulas. 

VIII.  I  proceed  to  another  class  of  objections,  as 
that  the  claim  of  Church  authority  is  but  the  pre- 
tence of  InfallibiHty  under  disguise  :  that  it  con- 
verts belief,  the  active  search  and  the  intelligent 
acquiescence,  into  a  dull,  passive  receptivity : 
that  it  substitutes  for  assimilation  of  spiritualities 
into  the  spiritual  being,  a  sort  of  deglutition  of  the 
husks  of  dogma. 

Without  entering  fully  into  this  wide  field  of 
debate,  I  offer  a  few  words  of  comment. 

Authority,  as  used  in  this  connection,  and  as 
used  in  like  connections  in  other  sciences  than 
theology,  has  a  well-defined,  technical  meaning. 
Sometimes  it  serves  the  purpose  of  the  work- 
ing hypothesis  of  the  scientist,  supplying  the 
rule  safest  to  be  followed  in  the  conduct  of 
independent  investigation,  and  confirmed  into 
theory  when  we  have  tested  its  utterances.  To 
those  who  for  lack  of  opportunity  or  culture,  can- 
not for  themselves  collect  the  data  and  work  out 
the  argument,  authority  is  in  such  matters,  the 
epitome  of  what  has  been  collected  and  adjudged 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    219 

by  those  to  whose  guidance  it  is  safest  to  entrust 
ourselves. 

Following  man  into  his  social  life,  authority 
becomes  more  precise.  Without  demanding  the 
submission  of  the  private  opinion,  it  erects  a  tri- 
bunal where  the  right  and  the  wrong  of  private 
opinions  shall  be  adjudicated  for  practical  pur- 
poses. There  are  elements  in  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority which  I  dare  hot  ignore,  and  which  be- 
long to  no  other  authority.  In  its  written  code, 
in  its  promise  of  spiritual  illumination,  in  its  des- 
ignation of  official  teachers,  Christianity  is  unique. 

But  confining  ourselves  to  the  analogies  of  so- 
cial life,  authority  is  seen  to  be  a  reahty  and  a  ne- 
cessity ;  and  that,  while  it  disclaims  infallibility. 
Of  the  learned  professions,  theology  alone  has 
been  betrayed  into  speaking  lightly  of  authority, 
or  into  a  dread  of  it,  as  destructive  to  a  manly 
individualism. 

A  mere  "  case-lawyer  "  can  never  grasp  aright 
a  legal  proposition  :  but  the  most  brilliant  legal 
genius  is  an  unsafe  counsellor,  unless  he  knows 
the  legal  tradition  and  defers  to  it. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  is  to 
citizens  what  its  name  imports.  It  is  not  infalli- 
ble.     It  is  not  always  in  accord  with  the  like  tri- 


TJie  Chtirch  in  the  Nation. 


bunal  in  the  place  of  eminence  elsewhere.  It  has 
in  some  instances  reversed  its  own  decisions.  Yet 
none  the  less  is  it  the  authority.  Laymen  con- 
form their  actions  to  its  determinations.  Com- 
missioned officers  of  the  government  execute  the 
law  under  its  advisement. 

But  advancing-  beyond  such  analogies,  instruct- 
ive, although  inadequate,  let  us  ask  what  sort  of 
authority  it  is  to  which  the  National  Church  pre- 
tends ?  Nowhere  does  she  say  I  am  infallible:  but 
she  does  claim  that  she  is  Christ's  accredited  mes- 
senger to  you,  and  that  she  delivers  His  word 
rightly. 

To  the  great  multitude  she  offers  an  asylum, 
provided  only  that  they  accept  as  true,  the  facts 
of  the  Gospel  history,  and  the  plain  duties  which 
are  consequent  thereon.  Those  are  noblest  in 
her  esteem,  whose  adhesion  is  most  intelligent 
and  thoughtful.  And  if  any  aspire  to  the  digni- 
ty of  representing  her  to  other  men,  she  right- 
ly demands  that  they  shall  be  in  full  sympathy 
with  lier,  If  you  are  to  be  my  messenger,  she 
says,  you  must  carry  my  message.  While  the 
commission  is  being  inscribed,  she  herself  spreads 
wide  open  for  him  the  sacred  volume  and  the 
ancient  commentaries.     She  frowns  not  when  the 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    221 

student  includes  in  his  search,  profane  history  and 
modern  philosophies.  Her  solitary  demand  is 
that  required  of  all  missionaries,  that  the  ambas- 
sador shall  express  the  mind  of  the  sovereignty 
which  he  undertakes  to  represent. 

IX.  One  other  objection  has  been  suggested, 
that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  is  too  small  a 
volume  to  be  a  complete  directory  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  yet  too  large  to  allow  reasonable  men 
jtirare  in  verba,   to  accept  its  utmost  syllable. 

Touching  the  latter  of  these  affirmations,  while 
there  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  criteria 
of  honest  subscription,  whether  it  is  the  animus 
imponentis,  or  the  literal  and  grammatical  inter- 
pretation, or  the  larger  freedom  of  any  sense 
possible  to  be  imposed  ;  the  question  is  but  a 
special  instance  of  a  general  problem  which  meets 
us  very  often.  In  numerous  cases,  no  jury 
could  agree  upon  a  verdict,  no  court  unite  in  an 
opinion,  no  society  formulate  a  compact,  if  every 
individual  were  bound  to  assent  to  it  in  its  terms, 
as  if  he  had  drafted  it  to  express  his  individual 
mind. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  maxim  prevails,  De 
minimis  non  curat  lex. 

I  venture  to    suggest    whether    this    question 


222  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

docs  not  belong  to  a  class  of  questions,  difficult 
to  solve  in  dialectics  and  best  relegated  to  the 
instincts  of  the  honorable  mind  and  the  tender 
conscience.  For  myself  I  may  say,  that  I  am 
conscious  of  no  disloyalty  if  I  say  to  my  own 
heart,  or  if  I  suggest  in  my  place  as  a  legislator, 
that  another  mode  of  expression  would  be  a  bet- 
ter statement  of  the  truth  ;  and  on  the  other  side, 
if  it  should  seem  that  the  words  which  the  Church 
has  put  into  my  mouth  were,  in  the  impression 
they  must  make  on  the  minds  of  others,  mislead- 
ing or  untrue,  I  could  not  utter  them  save  at  the 
loss  of  self-respect. 

Legally,  no  man  can  be  indicted  except  for 
distinct,  unequivocal  denial  of  a  doctrinal  state- 
ment, distinct  and  unequivocal.  This  is  as  it  ought 
to  be,  however  it  may  suffer  to  go  free,  a  teacher 
ingenious  in  suggesting  doubts  without  affirm- 
ing them,  or  in  so  dressing  his  denial  in  cloudy 
robes  of  rhetoric  that,  while  all  recognize  it,  none 
will  identify  it  under  oath. 

But  to  a  generous  mind  this  very  impunity  is 
not  license,  but  restraint.  Conscience,  with  its 
silent  reproach,  is  more  to  be  feared  than  canon 
law  with  its   penalties.     In  the    appeal  to    con- 


The  Chitr ell's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    223 

science,  consists  the  Church's  surest  guarantee 
of  the  loyalty  of  her  clergy. 

We  have  heard  it  said,  that  it  is  the  precisian  on- 
ly who  troubles  himself  about  rubrics  and  canons. 
The  latter  are  changeable,  and  occasionally  con- 
tradictory and  of  doubtful  interpretation.  And  as 
for  the  former,  their  directions  are  incomplete, 
or  else  obsolete  by  reason  of  the  change  of  con- 
ditions. Common  sense  is  not  to  be  discarded 
from  our  service,  and  literal  ■  exactness  is  an  ab- 
surdity when  necessity  or  high  expediency 
stands  in  its  way. 

Such  representations  are  true,  if  they  mean,  as 
Butler  has  taught  us,  that  positive  precepts  yield 
to  moral  duties.  But  if  they  mean  that  positive 
precepts  may  be  lightly  disregarded,  the  mischief 
that  grows  out  of  such  indifference  is  difficult  to 
exaggerate. 

The  same  voice  which  cited  the  example  of 
David  and  the  shew-bread,  as  an  illustration  of 
ritual  ordinance  set  aside  by  necessity,  did  also 
commend  the  tithing  of  mint,  anise  and  cum- 
min. 

When  Bishop  Auer,  husbanding  the  little 
breath  that  remained  to  him,  confirmed  and  con- 
veyed orders,  no  doubt  he  abbreviated  the  servi- 


224  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

ces  to  the  narrowest  limits  consistent  with  their 
integrity.  The  Memphis  clergy  in  the  pestilence 
reserved  the  consecrated  elements.  I  have  nev- 
er heard  that  any  censured  these  departures 
from  the  written  law.  It  was  the  case  of  the 
shew-bread  over  again. 

But  the  mind  of  the  Priest  should  be  to  walk 
in  all  the  commandments  and  ordinances  blame- 
less ;  to  tithe  the  herbs  of  the  garden.  If  rubrics 
are  vague,  inadequate  or  inapplicable,  it  becomes 
us  to  observe  as  best  we  can  the  analogies  of  the 
case.  If  necessity,  or  expediency  (such  as  arises 
when  to  observe  the  rule  would  defeat  its  pur- 
pose) demands  the  exercise  of  common-sense, 
then  have  we  justification  for  the  use  of  sound 
discretion. 

But  where  no  such  pleas  can  be  offered,  where 
there  is  nothing  exceptional,  where  the  Church 
has  made  what  she  deems  suitable  provision,  the 
instincts  of  humility  and  of  honor  demand  that 
we  should  render  punctilious  obedience. 

Concerning  divines  who  affect  to  be  indepen- 
dent of  restraint,  Hooker  exclaims,"  Why  oppose 
they  the  name  of  a  minister  unto  the  state  of  a 
private  man  ?  Doth  their  order  exempt  them 
from  obedience  to  laws  ?     That  which  tlieir  office 


The  ChtircKs  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    225 

and  place  requireth  is  to  shew  themselves  patterns 
of  reverend  subjection,  not  authors  and  masters 
of  contempt  towards  ordinances,  the  strength 
whereof,  when  they  seek  to  weaken,  they  do  but 
in  truth  discover  to  the  world  their  own  imbecil- 
ity, which  a  great  deal  wiselier  they  might  con- 
ceal."^ 

X.  I  may  be  allowed  without  the  charge  of 
personal  censoriousness,  to  present  disloyalty  in 
the  concrete.  Public  utterances  and  ministrations 
are  not  to  be  exempted  from  criticism,  on  the 
ground  that  we  impugn  the  good  sense  or  hon- 
esty of  the  speakers  and  actors.  The  great 
thinkers  who  in  our  day  are  unsettling  the  founda- 
tions of  religion  and  morals  and  human  accounta- 
bility, do  not  protest,  because  they  are  not  obnox- 
ious to  the  charge  of  ribaldry  or  immorality.  And 
religious  teachers  must  not  piteously  cry  out,'  You 
are  defaming  men  who  excel  you  in  learning  and 
in  self-abnegation,'  when  we  say  plainly  that  they 
promote  that  which  is  contrary  to  good  morals, 
and  rely  on  pleadings  ingenious  but  not  ingenu- 
ous. The  personal  goodness,  even  enhances  the 
mischief.  The  great  Bishop  Wilberforce  speaks  of 

I  Polity,  V.  Ixxii.  9. 


226  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

the  "  mischievous  goodness  "  of  one  of  his  cotem- 
poraries. 

I  present  then,  two  illustrations  of  the  working 
of  minds,  disloyal,  although  we  do  not  affirm 
consciously  disloyal,  to  lawful  authority  and  to 
plighted  vows.  One  is  authentic  :  the  other  an- 
onymous, hypothetical  if  you  will,  but  equally 
verifiable. 

The  Bishop  of  Manchester  refuses  to  appoint  a 
certain  curate  to  a  certain  living  upon  the  ground 
that  after  examining  his  statements  of  doctrine, 
written  and  printed,  he  could  not  consider  them 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  or  of  the 
Nicene  Creed,  on  the  vital  point  of  the  divinity  of 
our  Lord.  The  Priest  thereupon  appeals  to  the 
sympathy  of  the  people.  A  meeting  of  congre- 
gation and  parishioners  is  held.  The  Bishop's 
letter  is  read  amid  laughter  and  cries  of  shame, 
and  a  resolution  is  passed  of  sympathy  with  the 
Curate  under  his  wrongs.  And  what  is  that 
Curate's  account  of  himself  ?  He  does  not  deny 
the  Incarnation,  only  he  explains  it  thus  :  "  In 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  we  have  a  type  of  that 
character  of  which  the  Christ  is  to  be  for  ever 
born.  *  *  *  The  miracle  of  the  Incarnation  of  a 
true  Son  of  God  may  take  place  continually  :  it 


The  CJmrcKs  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    227 

ought  to  take  place  each  time  a  child  is  born  into 
the  world.  "^  *  ^  I  am  not  surprised  that  Mary  so 
carefully  instilled  into  the  mind  of  Jesus, '  My  Son, 
never  forget  God  is  thy  Father  !'  I  only  grieve 
that  so  many  mothers  fail  to  impress  the  same 
saving  truth  upon  the  hearts  of  their  children." 

He  does  not  deny  the  divinity  of  Christ :  only 
he  claims  to  expound  it  modo  suo. 

"  You  charge  me  with  making  Him  such  a  one 
as  yourself  or  myself.  I  ever  try  to  teach  my- 
self and  others  that,  on  quite  the  other  hand,  we 
must  try  to  make  ourselves  such  as  He.  There 
are  not  two  Gods,  and  whatever  was  of  God  in  Je- 
sus Christ  was  certainly  *  equal  to  the  Father.' 
Just  as  in  you  and  me,  if  there  be  any  of  God  in 
us,  it  is  most  certainly  '  God  of  God,  Light  of 
Light,  very  God  of  very  God,  Begotten,  not  made. 
Being  of  one  substance  with  the  Father,'  Jesus 
Christ  is  now,  as  He  ever  was,  one  with  the  Fath- 
er, in  the  same  sense  that  you  and  I  are  one  with 
the  Father  whenever  we  are  good."  ^ 

To  a  judicial  mind  this  is  sheer  nonsense,  and 
dishonest  nonsense  as  well.  It  is  worse  than  the 
Probable  Opinion  which  Pascal  satirized.  It 
claims  a  right  to  hold  and  teach  the  Improbable 

1  London  Guardian,  Jan.  14th,  1885. 


228  The  Church  in  the  Nation. 

Opinion.  It  is  emptying  statements  of  fact  and 
history  of  all  meaning,  and  substituting  therefor 
tropes  and  verbiage.  Yet  is  he  the  martyr  of 
the  hour,  and  the  Bishop  the  obnoxious  tyrant. 
Cobnnbae  ineidpanttir  :  dant  veniam  corvis.  No 
personal  considerations  may  here  be  allowed  to 
intervene.  All  honest  men,  Christian  and  un- 
christian, should  repudiate  with  scorn  and  indig- 
nation, a  casuistry  which  robs  of  significance,  all 
the  honorable  pledges  of  man  to  his  brother,  by 
which  society  is  bound  together. 

Another  illustration.  In  the  days  of  Hobart 
and  Ravenscroft,  and  thereafter,  those  who  were 
deemed  sound  Churchmen,  took  no  liberties  with 
the  Prayer  Book.  They  avowed  themselves 
Precisians,  to  the  dotting  of  an  i  and  the  crossing 
of  a  /. 

Then  came  the  assertion  of  conscience  against 
authority  by  more  schools  of  thought  than  one. 
Some  said  privately,  and  some  openly  and  defi- 
antly, that  they  would  not  use  the  word  Regener- 
ate in  the  Baptismal  office.  I  know  of  no  one 
who  now  occupies  this  defiant  attitude  about  that 
office,  but  the  precedent  was  very  full  of  mischief 
There  came  in  also  new  ritual  observances,  ex- 
cused on  the  ground  of  ancient  custom,  which 


TJie  Chiu'cJis  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.     229 

have  introduced  confusion  into  our  public  offices. 
But  most  serious  of  all,  has  been  a  paulatim 
process,  exaggerating  this  confusion  almost  to 
anarchy.  In  that  most  laudable  multiplication  of 
celebrations  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  which  has  of 
late  years  become  familiar  to  us,  the  length  of 
the  office  has  been  felt  to  be  an  inconvenience. 
One  Clergyman  omits  the  Prayer  for  the  Church 
Militant ;  another  the  longer  exhortation.  Still 
another,  finding  it  hard  to  make  room  for  his 
very  numerous  services,  at  an  early  celebration, 
omits  all  the  introductory  portion  and  proceeds 
without  delay  to  the  celebration  proper.  And 
yet  another  persuades  himself  and  his  people,  not 
that  it  is  preferable  merely,  and  more  reverent 
when  choice  is  allowed,  to  receive  fasting,  but 
that  it  is  de  rigiieur.  Having  created  this  ne- 
cessity, he  pleads  it  as  an  exemption  from  ob- 
serving the  prescribed  sacramental  order.  '  I  must 
celebrate  at  midday  :  I  have  none  to  communi- 
cate with  me.  I  must  not  for  forms'  sake  use 
words  that  are  inapplicable  and  meaningless.' 

The  defence  is  this.  It  has  been  permitted 
without  remonstrance  to  omit  on  occasion.  Deca- 
logue, Epistle,  Gospel,  Exhortation.  In  the  ex- 
ercise of  like  discretion,  one  who  upholds  Fast- 


230  TJie  Church  in  the  Nation. 

ing  Communion  may  eliminate  at  a  service,  when 
it  is  to  be  presumed  the  people  have  broken  their 
fast,  all  that  implies  participation.  And  so  he  who 
stands  pledged  to  administer  the  Sacraments  as 
this  Church  hath  received  the  same,  converts  and 
perverts  her  "  Order  for  the  Administration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  or  Holy  Communion  "  into 
something  else,  unknown  to  her,  as  it  was  to  the 
ancients.  To  state  such  argument  is  to  refute  it. 
The  possibility  of  seriously  urging  it,  reminds  us 
that  disobedience  in  things  purely  technical,  may 
in  some  sort  lend  the  weight  of  example  and  influ- 
ence to  perversions  the  most  mischievous — to 
an  equivocation  with  plighted  vows,  upon  which 
a  good  heathen  might  frown. 

XI.  In  these  Lectures  I  have  had  regard  to  the 
audience  before  me.  I  have  no  assurance  that 
others  will  care  to  read  or  hear  them.  But 
youth  is  docile  and  sympathetic,  and  impressible 
by  the  living  voice  of  one  who  speaks  with  affec- 
tion. 

I  see  among  you  my  own  candidates,  on  whom 
I  hope  to  lay  my  hands.  In  your  upturned 
countenances  I  recognize  the  face  of  a  friend,  or  of 
the  son  of  a  friend.     In  your  entire  array,  I  rec- 


The  Church's  Claim  upon  Her  Clergy.    231 

ognize  the  men,  numerous  enough  and  of  culture 
sufficient  to  make  you  a  potential  factor  in  the 
Church  of  God. 

I  invoke  for  you  all,  a  career  alike  honorable 
and  useful,  a  ministry  respected  of  men  and  ap- 
proved of  God. 

My  young  brother,  take  heed  unto  thyself  and 
unto  the  doctrine.  No  gift  imparted  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  can  make  men  good  and  happy, 
who  do  not  keep  their  hearts  with  diligence. 
And  alas  !  the  best  of  gifts  may  be  destructive  to 
others,  if  while  carnal  lusts  be  kept  under,  the 
pride  of  intellect  remains  unsubdued.  Take  heed 
to  thy  doctrine,  that  it  be  not  of  thine  own  in- 
vention or  of  thine  own  election.  Keep  thyself 
pure.  Aye,  and  keep  thine  official  conscience 
clean. 


APPENDIX  I. 

ATTEMPTED  LEGISLATION  IN  REGARD  TO  EC- 
CLESIASTICAL COMPREHENSION. 

I  OFFER  no  apology  for  endeavoring  to  bring  to- 
gether in  a  condensed  form  the  scattered  fragments 
of  this  history.  It  belongs  to  a  practical  question 
which  cannot  longer  be  avoided,  and  is  made  up  of  de- 
tails not  easily  accessible  to  the  majority  of  the  Clergy 
and  of  the  Laity. 

I.  In  the  year  1872,  when  the  House  of  Bishops  was 
in  special  session  in  New  York,  several  German  Evan- 
gelical clergymen  asked  a  hearing.  Their  story,  more 
pathetic  for  the  imperfect  English  in  which  it  was 
uttered,  was  briefly  this  :  They  recognized  among  their 
people  a  tendency  to  division  into  new  sects,  and  also 
to  fall  away  from  the  historical  faith  and  doctrine. 
Could  the  Bishops  help  them  ?  Could  any  means  be 
devised  by  which,  preserving  their  own  organization 
and  German  worship,  they  could  be  braced,  against 
these  disintegrating  influences,  by  the  strong  band 
around  them  of  Apostolic  order  and  authority  ? 

Their  Memorial,  printed  in  full  in  the  Journal  of 


234  Appendix  I. 


Gen.    Con.   1874,  p.  382,  deserved  a  better  fate  than  to 
be  there  buried.      I  extract  a  few  sentences  : 

"  We  long  to  see  a  large  body  of  Christians,  speak- 
ing the  tongue  of  our  fatherland,  receiving  the  sac- 
raments and  ordinances  through  your  hands,  using  a 
Liturgy  like  yours,  and  submitting  to  your  godly  and 
scriptural  discipline." 

"  Especially  we  pray  for  the  consecration  of  a  Bishop 
of  our  own  countrymen,  that  he  may  know  our 
customs  and  peculiarities  of  education  and  thought. " 

"  We  are  far  from  desiring  to  establish  a  new  Church. 
We  desire  to  be  part  of  yours.  We  would  not  trespass 
on  any  see  or  diocese,  but  would  let  our  Bishops  act  un- 
der the  direction  of  those  who  already  have  authority 
in  our  several  regions." 

In  the  same  Journal  of  1874,  p.  325,  is  printed  a  re- 
port presented  to  the  House  of  Bishops,  by  order  of 
the  Bishops  in  Council. 

The  Committee  say  that  "If  it  were  possible  to  es- 
tablish a  missionary  Episcopate  among  the  Germans, 
and  under  it  to  collect  and  give  unity  to  our  {q^n  scat- 
tered clergy  of  German  birth,  there  might  be  expected, 
under  God's  blessing,  a  very  rich  result. "  They  do  not 
however  propose  any  specific  scheme  for  providing  such 
Episcopate,  and  conclude  with  a  resolution  expressive 
of  sympathy  with  the  German  population,  and  of  a 
desire  to  promote  their  religious  and  social  interests. 

All  of  which,  being  interpreted,  means  non-possiimus. 


Appendix  I.  235 


Nothing  came  of  it.  One  cannot  imagine  anything 
more  reasonable,  more  heart-breaking  than  the  petition 
of  those  clergymen  which  we  knew  not  how  to  enter- 
tain, 

II,  In  view  of  this  discussion,  the  Bishop  of  Maryland 
on  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  Amendments  to  the  Con- 
stitution, proposed  a  new  article,  to  be  numbered  XI, 
"Congregations  of  foreign  race  or  worshipping  in  a 
foreign  tongue,  may  be  admitted  into  union  with  this 
Church,  or  organized  by  ministers  of  the  Church,  un- 
der such  provisions  for  the  conduct  of  their  public 
worship  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  canonically  made 
by  the  General  Convention."  This  resolution,  adopt- 
ed by  the  Bishops,  was  in  the  House  of  Deputies  re- 
ferred to  a  Committee,  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  the 
Session.  The  Committee  made  no  report,  (journal, 
1874,  pp.  359  and  207  ) 

III,  At  this  same  convention  a  memorial  was  present- 
ed from  the  Diocese  of  Texas,  in  relation  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Suffragan  Bishop  for  the  supervision  of  the 
colored  people  in  that  Diocese.  The  Bishop  of  North 
Carolina  oifered  a  resolution  on  the  same  subject,  and 
presently  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  from  the  Commit- 
tee on  Canons,  reported  an  elaborate  canon  ' '  Of  Suffra- 
gan Bishops. "  The  Suffragan  to  perform  such  Episcopal 
offices  and  within  such  district  as  the  Diocesan  may  as- 
sign him  :  not  to  be  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Bishops,  but  eligible  for  election  as  a  Diocesan, 

Bishop  Whittingham  proposed  as  a  substitute,  a  can- 


236  Appendix  I. 


on  in  which  the  word  Suffragan  is  not  used.  It  provides 
that  "in  dioceses  containing  in  large  numbers /^o/>/t?j 
of  foreign  race  or  language,"  it  shall  be  lawful  to 
appoint  a  "special  Missionary  Bishop,"  with  "juris- 
diction over  the  congregations  of  the  particular 
race  or  language  for  which  his  ministry  shall  be 
required." 

These  very  different  schemes  were  then  referred  to  a 
select  Committee,  to  report  to  the  next  Convention. 
In  the  resolution  of  reference  the  things  intended  are 
more  plainly  defined.  It  speaks  of  "the  whole  sub- 
ject of  providing  Episcopal  supervision  for  Freedmen 
and  Foreigners,"  and  of  the  propositions  "  in  reference 
to  Suffragan  Bishops  and  Bishops  for  Tongues."  (Jour- 
nal 1874,  pp.  255,  261,  283,  362,  363.) 

IV.  In  1877,  a  majority  and  a  minority  report  were 
presented  from  this  Committee,  and  it  was  discharged, 
the  discussion  being  thus  concluded. 

The  Majority,  Bishops  Atkinson,  Williams  and  (with 
a  reservation)  Gregg,  presented  an  able  and  exhausiive 
argument.     A  single  paragraph  may  show  its  drift. 

' '  If  Bishops  be  needed  for  congregations  of  persons 
speaking  different  languages  from  the  English,  or  belong- 
ing to  races  distinct  from  the  European,  then  those  Bish- 
ops should  be  Suffragans.  Otherwise  we  should  have  di- 
versity of  Government  in  the  same  Diocese  :  diversity 
of  interests,  intensifying  in  many  cases,  no  doubt,  to 
antagonism  *  *  *  To  have  independent  Bishops  in  one 
Diocese  is  against  the  stream  of  Catholic  teaching  and 


Appendix  L  237 


practice,  and  would  tend  to  generate  divisions  instead 
of  unity. " 

In  the  judgment  of  the  writer,  this  argument  is  un- 
answered and  unanswerable. 

The  Minority,  Bishops  Stevens  and  Vail,  in  an  equal- 
ly elaborate  report,  deny  that  Suffragans  were  known 
to  the  early  Church  or  that  the  Chorepiscopi  were  such. 
They  advert  to  the  discussion  which  grew  out  of  Dr. 
Meade's  election  as  Suffragan  in  Virginia,  and  the  fixed 
determination  of  the  Church  for  fifty  years  not  to  conse- 
crate Suffragans.  The  Minority  also  argue  the  ques- 
tion upon  its  merits,  especially  because  the  allowance 
of  Suffragans  would  introduce  ' '  a  sort  of  Sub-Episco- 
pate, inferior  in  power,  in  jurisdiction,  and  in  privi- 
leges and  rights."  Such  Bishop  would  be  excluded 
from  both  houses  of  the  General  Convention,  and 
' '  would  be  liable  to  be  suspended  from  his  office  at 
the  mere  will  of  his  diocesan." 

These  reports  are  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Journal 
of  1877,  pp.  524-533- 

A  feeling  of  utter  discouragement  as  to  measures  of 
comprehension,  now  succeeded.  There  was  small  al- 
lusion to  it  in  the  Convention  of  1880.  The  Council 
of  Virginia  sent  up  a  memorial  "  on  the  subject  of  giv- 
ing to  the  Colored  people  of  Virginia  and  the  other 
Southern  States,  when  desired,  a  full  and  complete  or- 
ganization of  their  own,"  and  the  Deputies  proposed  a 
Joint  Committee  to  consider  it  and  report  to  the  next 
Convention.     But  the   Bishops  returned   answer   that 


Afftn£x  I. 


\m.  die  Hone  of  De;  _ 

and  tfass 
of  1883,  pp.  69,  i»4,  2 
4^^«*«i  P^  595- 


£ix  I. 


2-9 


APPENDIX  II. 

DISCIPLINAR  YLEGISLA  TION,  A  TTEMPTED  AND 
ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION, 
ESPECIALLY  IN  THE  LAST  SIXTEEN  YEARS. 

I.  The  Discipline  of  Bishops. 

A  CANON,  occupying  four  pages  of  the  Journal  of 
1853,  gave  place  in  1856  to  the  canon  "  Of  the 
trial  of  a  Bishop, "  which  occupies  fifteen  pages  of  the 
Digest,  and  at  which  the  book  seems  to  open  of  its  own 
accord. 

I  well  remember  the  excitement  attendant  upon  its 
passage,  being  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Deputies. 

The  Church  had  been  greatly  stirred  by  events  to 
which  a  more  special  allusion  need  not  be  made.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  canon  needed  to  be  re-cast.  But 
how.?  Some  were  determined  to  "make  the  trial  of  a 
Bishop  hard,"  others,  to  make  it  "easy."  It  is  due  to 
the  wisdom  and  skill  of  Dr.  Hawks,  that  a  measure  was 
adopted  which  sufficiently  reconciled  opposing  views. 
The  canon  which  he  drafted  and  defended  with  singular 
ability,  makes  a  presentment  easy,  but  it  secures  the 
240 


Appendix  II.  241 


Bishop  from  prosecution,  unless  the /niwayan'/ evidence 
has  been  sifted  by  a  body,  of  the  nature  of  a  Grand  Jury. 

Presentment  to  the  Presidmg  Bishop  has  been  made 
under  this  canon,  but  no  trial  has  been  had. 

The  prominence  in  the  Digest,  of  this  elaborate  ca- 
non, seldom  fails  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  stranger 
who  opens  the  volume.  It  seems  to  suggest  that  the 
Bishops,  more  than  any  other  order  in  the  Church,  need 
disciplinary  restraint.  Hence,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Bishop  of  Western  New  York,  the  Bishops  pro- 
posed, that  leaving  the  law  itself  untouched,  and  pre- 
serving it  where  it  would  be  readily  accessible  when 
needed,  all  this  detail,  the  unpleasantly  suggestive 
minutiae  of  the  canon,  might  be  converted  into  ' '  Rules 
of  Procedure,"  and  no  longer  be  so  offensively  obtruded. 

The  House  of  Deputies  non-concurred,  the  Commit- 
tee on  Canons  assigning  as  a  reason  ' '  that  they  cannot 
recommend  the  removal  of  any  portion  of  the  Church's 
law  from  the  volume  which  professes  to  contain  it'' 

See  ^o«r«a/of  1883,  pp.  35,  57,   220,  289. 

The  reason  assigned  above  is  purely  technical.  It 
may  not  be  doubted  that  the  Bishops  felt  deeply,  that  a 
proposition  which  appealed  to  the  courtesy  of  the  De- 
puties was  entitled  to  more  deferential  treatment. 

The  suggestion  of  courtesy  leads  me  to  mention  in  this 
connection,  theeflFort  of  the  Bishops  at  two  conventions 
to  allow  the  retirement  of  a  Bishop  at  the  age  of  seven- 
ty, without  surrendering  his  place  in  the  House  of 
Bishops,  thus  "giving  relief  to  the  Church  and  to  its 
16 


242  Appendix  II. 


worn  and  weary  servants,  whose  retirement  from  active 
duty  should  be  attended  only  by  conditions  of  honor 
and  comfort."  The  consideration  given  by  the  Depu- 
ties to  this  request  did  not  seem  to  be  such  as  was  due 
to  an  appeal  for  kind  consideration  towards  its  aged 
pastors. 

Journal,  1880,  212,  279,  145,  175,  194. 

Journal,  1883,  215,  252,  295,  23,  46,  51. 

II.   The  Trial  of  "Ministers." 

The  canons  of  Clerical  Discipline,  being  the  first 
three  of  Title  II,  have  not  been  materially  altered  of 
late  years.  They  define  briefly  the  offences  which  ex- 
pose a  minister  to  punishment,  and  leave  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Court  and  the  methods  of  procedure  in  the 
power  of  the  Diocese  "until  otherwise  provided  for  by 
the  General  Convention." 

A  Missionary  Bishop  selects  the  Constitution  and 
Canons  of  one  of  the  Dioceses,  and  proceeds  under 
them  in  the  administration  of  discipline. 

In  the  dioceses  the  disciplinary  code  varies  greatly, 
and  is  often  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory.  Good  cler- 
gymen are  not  ex-officio  good  lawyers,  and  where  there 
is  no  provision  for  assistance  to  be  rendered  by  assess- 
ors learned  in  the  law,  they  are  singularly  helpless. 
There  is  no  principle  accepted  in  common  for  the  des- 
ignation of  the  members  of  the  court. 

As  for  the  Missionary  Jurisdiction  {expcrto  crede)  dis- 


Appendix  II.  243 


cipline  is  simply  impracticable.  There  is  a  well-known 
case  of  mis-trial  upon  mis-trial,  and  of  Episcopal  sor- 
rows, which  is  a  warning  to  all  Missionary  Bishops  not 
to  attempt  the  impossible. 

The  whole  matter  needs  to  be  re-examined,  and  es- 
pecially should  there  be  lodged  somewhere,  the  power, 
commonly  used  in  the  Methodist  bodies,  of  silencing  a 
a  clergyman  against  whom  grave  charges  are  preferred, 
until  a  trial  can  be  had.  The  recommendations  of 
Bishops  Atkinson,  Williams,  and  others,  to  allow  sus- 
pension after  presentment,  failed  in  the  House  of  Depu- 
ties, as  appears  in  the  Journal  of  1874,  pp.  290,  298. 

The  canon  of  "  Renunciation  of  the  Ministry,"  is 
among  the  very  best  in  the  Digest,  It  suffices,  in  nine 
cases  out  often,  to  relieve  the  Church  of  the  scandal  of 
unworthy  ministers,  without  the  publicity  of  a  public 
trial. 

And  the  worst  perhaps,  is  "Of  differences  between 
Ministers  and  their  Congregations,"  Tide  ii.  canon  4. 
The  old  canon  allowed  all  such  differences  to  be  adjus- 
ted by  the  Bishop  in  camera.  A  more  impartial  arbiter, 
one  would  think,  it  is  hard  to  find.  In  1871,  such 
cases  were  removed  from  the  paternal  decision  of  the 
Bishop  and  remitted  to  a  Board  of  Conciliation. 
Journal  of  1871,  pp.  42,  205,  231,  244,  363,  383. 
Reflection  showed  the  exceeding  impolicy  of  such  a 
Board.  And  thus,  in  1874,  see  Journal /a55/w,  the 
subject  was  very  thoroughly  discussed  without  reaching 
any  result.     In  1877,  the  canon  was  recast  into  its  pres- 


244  Appendix  II. 


ent  form.     Journal,  pp.   38,   ']7„  157,   180,    216,   308, 
328. 

Jn  the  earlier  canon,  the  Bishop  was  empowered  to 
make  informal  enquiry  and  to  decide  between  the  par- 
ties. Now,  the  Bishop,  with  the  Standing  Committee, 
is  the  ultimate  arbiter  and  judge.  Thus  a  quasi-judi- 
cial proceeding  is  required  and  a  record  must  be  kept 
It  is  to  -be  noted,  that  this  canon  is  not  binding  in  any 
diocese  which  makes  a  provision  of  its  own.  The  Di- 
ocese of  Easton  has  elected  the  old  canon  of  1832,  as 
its  law,  and  consents  to  trust  the  Bishop  to  settle  such 
disputes,  just  as  the  Rector  is  peace-maker  between  con- 
tending parishioners. 

III.    Repression  of  Unauthorized  Ritual. 

Some  twenty  years  ago,  the  Church  in  the  United 
States  began  to  be  greatly  agitated  by  the  introduction 
of  ceremonies,  vestments  and  ornaments  unknown  be- 
fore. These  questions  so  largely  occupied  the  Conven- 
tions from  1868  to  1874  inclusive,  that  it  is  a  weariness 
to  hunt  out  the  references. 

The  result  appears  in  so  much  of  Title  i.  Canon  22, 
as  forbids  unauthorized  ceremonies,  setting  forth  or 
symbolizing  erroneous  or  strange  doctrines,  regard  be- 
ing had  especially  to  the  Adorauon  of  the  Elements  in 
the    Holy  Communion. 

It  is  well  known  that  this  canon  has  been  inopera- 
tive. With  those  who  are  always  glad  to  respect  the  old 
Mother's  intimation  of  her  wishes  in   any  matter,  (and 


Appendix  II.  245 


there  are  some  such  "  narrow  Churchmen,")  this  sec- 
tion has  moral  weight.  But  no  presentment  has  been 
made  under  it. 

It  was  resisted  at  the  time  of  its  passage  upon  the 
ground  that  while  it  repressed  the  extravagant,  the  er- 
roneous and  the  unauthorized,  it  did  not  enforce  the 
punctilious  observance  of  the  ceremonial,  by  express  ru- 
bric, enjoined.  As  the  phrase  went,  it  rebuked"  excess — 
it  had  nothing  to  say  ol  defect. 

A  witty  Bishop  replied  to  such  objection,  that  when  a 
boy  he  used  to  hear  that  a  man  could  not  kick  with  both 
feet.  But  after  we  had  paid  him  the  well-deserved 
tribute  of  a  smile,  we  bethought  ourselves,  Is  it  the 
purport  of  canon-making  to  kick  anybody?  Should 
not  a  canon  of  ritual  be  the  dignified  and  unimper- 
sonal  embodiment  of  the  principles  by  which  the  Cler- 
gy should  be  guided  in  the  celebration  of  the  Divine 
service } 

Some  years  before,  Bishop  Whittingham  was  re- 
quested to  frame  a  Canon  of  Vestments.  The  next 
morning  he  presented  to  the  House  a  draft  prescribing 
' '  that  every  minister  of  this  Church  shall,  in  perform- 
ing the  divine  service,  wear  the  vestments  appropriate  to 
his  office,"  and  none  other.  The  vestments  were  speci- 
fied. Rochet.  Chimere.  Broad  Scarf.  Gown. 
Surplice  and  Scarf. 

One  of  the  Bishops  enquired  whether  the  use  of  the 
Surplice  would  not  thus  be  made  obligatory.  If  so, 
he  could  not  accept  the  Canon.     Bishop  Whittmgham 


246  Appendix  II. 


thereupon  remarked,  that  if  it  were  desired  to  frame  a 
canon  which  should  bind  some  of  the  Clergy  and  leave 
others  free  to  do  as  they  pleased,  they  must  seek  an- 
other draughtsman.  He  replaced  the  papers  in  his  desk 
and  the  matter  dropped. 

If  the  variation  in  ceremonial  and  liturgical  observance 
is  not  to  be  absolutely  without  limit,  some  prudent  and 
intelligible  legislation  has  yet  to  be  devised.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  observe  how  many  propositions,  looking  to- 
wards a  broader  generalization,  were  voted  down. 

Thus  one  Bishop  proposed  {Journal,  1874  p.  307)  to 
forbid  equally  elevations,  genuflections  and  like  things, 
complained  of,  and  also  such  scandalous  and  well-known 
improprieties  as  the  refusal  to  say  ' '  regenerate  "  in  bap- 
tizing, or  to  observe  the  just  reverences  enioined  by  ru- 
bric in  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  Bishops  once  {Journal,  1871,  p.  211)  sent  to  the 
other  house  a  canon,  recognizing  the  canon  law  of  Eng- 
land anterior  to  1789  as  binding  in  this  Church,  and 
furthermore  remitting  all  doubtful  questions  to  the 
Ordinary. 

In  1877  {Journal,  p.  285)  the  Bishops  adopted  a  canon 
in  which  the  Deputies  non-concurred,  and  which  is  of 
more  significance  and  importance  than  may  appear  at  a 
glance.  It  provides  that  in  Collegiate  and  Private  Chap- 
els, the  minister  officiating  shall,  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  use  no  other  form  than  that  prescrib- 
ed in  the  Prayer  Book. 


Appendix  IT.  247 


IV.    The  Discipline  of  the  Laity. 

The  original  canon,  Title  ii.  Can.  12,  "Regula- 
tions respecting  the  Laity,"  adds  but  litde  to  the  fun- 
damental law  of  Discipline  set  forth  in  the  rubrics  of 
the  Communion  Office. 

In  view  of  the  increasing  scandal  of  Divorce  without 
adequate  cause,  the  old  canon  was  remitted  by  the 
Bishops  to  a  Committee,  who  after  protracted  and  la- 
borious iuquir}^  reported  a  Canon  "Of  Marriage  and 
Divorce*'  substantially  the  same  as  Title  ii.  Canon  13, 
adopted  in  1877.  I  have  noted  already  its  three  lead- 
ing features. 

It  affirms  the  Christian  law  which  governs  Divorce. 

It  recognizes  the  original  jurisdiction  of  the  Bishop, 
the  Ordinary,  in  all  disputed  cases.  It  affirms  the 
Church's  right  to  investigate  for  her  own  purposes,  in 
her  own  way,  untrammelled  by  the  decisions  of  civil 
courts. 

Returning  to  the  general  subject,  at  the  Convention 
of  1874  a  Joint  Committee  was  appointed  "to  consider 
and  report  what  action,  if  any,  is  desirable,  in  addition 
to  and  in  explanation  of,  the  provisions  already  enacted 
by  this  Church  for  the  godly  discipline  of  its  communi- 
cant members." 

In  a  somewhat  elaborate  report,  three  years  later,  the 
Committee  declare,  that  it  is  the  inevitable  duty  of  the 
Church  to  keep  her  children  under  discipline  :  a  disci- 
pline  not   capricious,   minute   or  inquisitorial,  which 


248  Appendix  II. 


shall  respect  the  domain  of  individual  conscience,  and 
be  resorted  to,  only  where  persuasion  and  counsel 
have  failed  to  abate  grievous  and  scandalous  faults. 

They  affirm  that  discipline  thus  rightly  exercised  is  a 
kindness  to  the  offender:  that  it  prevents  crime  as  well  as 
punishes  it  :  that  nothing  hinders  us  from  discharging 
this  dut)'.  They  urge,  "We  are  free  this  day,  as  ever  was 
any  National  Church,  in  the  purest  days  of  our  religion, 
to  establish  and  enforce  by  spiritual  discipline  such  laws 
as  may  best  guard  the  puriiy  of  the  Church."  They  pro- 
ceed to  enumerate  six  deficiencies  in  the  present  law  of 
Discipline  : 

1.  Indefiniteness  in  the  law,  as  illustrated  by  the  un- 
certainty of  the  language,  "open  and  notorious  evil- 
living.  " 

2.  Lack  of  Publication,  no  means  being  appointed 
to  instruct  the  laity  of  the  regulations  affecting  them. 

3  Vagueness  of  direction  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
discipline  should  be  exercised. 

4.  Uncertainty  as  to  the  effect  of  spiritual  censures 
and  as  to  the  mode  of  their  remission. 

5.  The  inadequacy  of  the  Parochial  Clergy  to  grap- 
ple with  questions,  delicate  and  difficult,  coming  up  but 
rarely  in  the  experience  of  a  life-time.  To  this  may  be 
added  the  consideration  of  the  odium  incurred  by  the 
resident  clerg}^'man  in  determining  such  questions. 

6.  The  helplessness  of  the  Bishop  to  enforce  his 
godly  judgment. 

This  report  was  signed  by  all  the  members  (one  lay- 
man excepted,  who  was  not  present)  viz. ,  the  Bishop  of 


Appendix  IT.  249 


Eiston,  Chairman,  at  the  request  of  his  colleagues,  the 
Bishop  of  Delaware,  the  Bishop  (  Kerfoot)  of  Pittsburgh, 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Shipraan,  Beers  and  Stearns,  and  Messrs. 
McWhorter  and  Simpson,  U.  S.  A. 

The  resolutions  of  the  Committee,  adopted  by  the 
General  Convention,  were  as  follows  : 

'■'■Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  so  to  amend  the  law 
of  the  Church,  touching  the  godly  discipline  of  its 
members,  as  to  make  it  more  explicit  in  its  provisions, 
and  more  readily  applicable  to  particular  cases. 

''Resolved,  That  the  Joint  Committee,  heretofore  in 
charge  of  this  matter,  be  continued,  and  re-constituted 
with  reference  to  convenience  of  assembling;  and  that  a 
Committee  of  Conference  be  appointed  by  the  two 
Houses,  to  nominate  the  members  of  said  Committee 
on  the  Godly  Discipline  of  the  Laity. " 

This  report  is  printed  in  Journal  1877,  pp.  263  to  266. 

The  Committee,  now  reconstituted,  made  their  re- 
port to  the  General  Convention  of  1880. 

Bishop  Kerfoot  gave  his  hearty  and  unqualified  ap- 
proval, although  hindered  by  sickness  from  assisting  at 
the  last  revision.  This  report,  signed  by  the  Bishops  of 
Delaware  and  Easton,  Rev.  Drs.  Lewin  and  Goodwin, 
and  H.  C.  Potter,  and  Messrs.  Coppee  and  Conover, 
may  be  found  on  p.  71  of  the  Journal  of  1880. 

This  Canon  proposed  to  meet  the  several  deficiencies, 
all  and  singular,  heretofore  enumerated.  The  Com- 
mittee said,  ' '  in  every  case,  we  had  regard  to  facts  laid 


Appendix  II. 


before  us,  showing  that  Bishops  and  Clergy  wcro  at  a 
loss,  and  needed  rules  for  their  guidance  in  the  subject 
matter  of  such  provision. " 

The  Canon  was  thoroughly  discussed  in  the  House 
of  Bishops,  and  after  various  modifications  v.'as  transmit- 
ted to  the  House  of  Deputies. 

In  that  body,  the  report  was  received  with  no  small 
opposition.  It  was  held  by  some  that  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline is  an  anachronism  in  the  19th  century,  and  that 
the  free  American  citizen  is  not  to  be  coerced,  but  per- 
suaded, to  keep  out  of  mischief. 

Certain  clerical  errors  in  the  transmission  of  the 
message  from  the  House  of  Bishops  still  further  compli- 
cated the  case.  In  the  result,  a  Committee  of  Confer- 
ence reported  favorably  of  the  Canon,  but  in  view  of  the 
lateness  of  the  session,  recommended  its  postponement 
to  the  next  Convention. 

Thus  died  a  scheme  for  formulating  and  simplifying 
the  law  of  lay-discipline.  A  glance  at  the  composition 
of  the  Committees  suffices  to  show  that  the  reports  were 
not  made  in  the  interest  of  any  party  in  the  Church. 

V.    Organized  Societies. 

The  Journals  from  1865  onwards  are  full  of  matter 
relating  to  the  regulation  of  Deaconesses,  Brotherhoods 
and  Sisterhoods. 

The  Bishops  held,  one  would  think  not  without  rea- 
son, that  they  should  have  the  right  to  inspect  and  su- 
pervise all  organized  work  within  their  respective  dio- 


Appendix  II.  251 


ceses,  and  that  they  should  have  a  voice  as  to  the   vows 
to  be  assumed,  and  the  devotions  to  be  used. 

On  the  other  side  it  was  argued,  and  by  some  who  in 
theory  affirm  the  nil  sine  Episcopo  doctrine,  that  such 
regulations  invade  the  liberty  of  the  Christian  citizen  : 
that  the  work  and  the  devotion  of  a  community  under 
voluntary  rule,  are  as  private  and  as  exempt  from  offi- 
cial intermeddling,  as  the  devotions,  discipline  and 
charities  of  the  family,  aihuc  sub  judice  lis  est.  The 
matter  cannot  always  be  left  thus  at  loose  ends. 
***** 
From  this  outline  and  partial  sketch  of  attempted  legis- 
lation, some  consequences  may  be  drawn. 

1.  Our  Ecclesiastical  Constitution  and  Canons  are 
neither  homogeneous,  articulated,  nor  adequate  to  our 
needs. 

No  one  is  to  blame.  John  Ross  once  showed  me  the 
Cherokee  Code.  It  began  with  a  law  to  forbid  the 
cutting  down  of  Pecan  trees,  by  an  Indian  too  lazy  to 
climb  the  branches  In  the  first  beginning,  it  was  well 
to  enact  brief  laws,  pro  re  nata,  and  not  too  many  of 
them.  But  the  time  comes  when  they  should  be  sys- 
tematized and  expanded  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
growth  and  development. 

On  the  motion  of  Bishop  Coxe,  in  1874,  (Journal,  p. 
218,  250  and  elsewhere)  the  Bishops  proposed  to  create 
a  Joint  Committee  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church.  It  was  lost  in  the  House  of  Deputies  by  a 
vote  of  48  to  45. 


252  Appendix  II. 


At  the  following  Convention,  Bishop  Coxe  renewed 
his  motion  and  was  seconded  by  the  Bishop  of  Nebras- 
ka, but  without  success.  In  the  House  of  Deputies, 
the  subject  was  renewed  by  a  memorial  from  the  dio- 
cese of  Wisconsin,  and  a  resolution  from  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Harris.  Mr.  Fish,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Constitution,  made  an  unfavorable  report,  and  was  sus- 
tained by  the  House.  Journal,  1877,  p.  23,  39,  57. 
96,  215,  220,  224. 

At  the  last  General  Convention  the  Bishops  proposed 
the  following  resolutions  : 

1.  That  a  Joint  Commission  be  appointed  by  the  two 
Houses  for  the  purpose  of  formulating  and  codifying 
the  Law  of  Discipline  in  this  Church,  in  such  wise  as  to 
avoid  uncertainties,  and  to  insure  a  just  restraint  in  all 
matters  of  doctrine,  ritual  and  morals. 

2.  That  it  be  referred  to  this  Joint  Commission  to 
consider  and  report  upon  the  expediency  of  providing 
some  other  mode,  not  of  the  nature  of  criminal  proced- 
ure, than  that  which  now  exists,  for  the  settlement  of 
vexed  questions. 

3.  Also,  the  matter  of  Appellate  Court  of  last  resort. 
The  second  of  these  resolutions  touched  the  deep  sensi- 
bilities of  many  of  the  Bishops. 

When  gentlemen,  especially  Christian  gentlemen, 
differ  about  the  boundaries  of  their  farms,  or  the  settle- 
ment of  a  co-partnership,  one  does  not  present  the  oth- 
er to  the  Grand  Jury  as  a  felon  who   seeks  to   defraud 


Appendix  IL  253 


him.  There  are  processes  of  law,  by  which  candid 
men  may  adjust  disputed  questions,  without  in  any 
wise  impeaching  motive  or  affixing  a  stigma  upon  the 
contestant. 

Now  a  criminal  presentment  is  our  one  only  legal 
remedy.      To  correct  anythvig  we  must  indict  somebody. 

The  Bishops  think  it  hard  that  they  cannot  redress  a 
grievance  or  maintain  a  just  interpretation  of  law,  with- 
out prosecuting  a  clergj'man  whose  integrity  of  character 
and  purity  of  life  is  well  known  to  them. 

And  then  again,  none  of  themselves  is  safe  from  this 
blot  on  his  record.  Without  mention  of  a  name,  an 
eminent  illustration  presents  itself  of  a  most  saintly  Bish- 
op presented  for  trial,  because  he  did  not  think  it  right 
to  bring  ceriam  of  his  clergy  to  trial.  The  iron  entered 
into  his  soul.  His  presenters  pursued  this  course  be- 
cause there  was  no  other  way  open  to  them  of  arresting 
that  which  they  considered  ought  not  to  be  tolerated. 

Could  they  have  sued  out  an  hijunctioii  to  restrain  the 
clergyman  from  his  ritual  practices,  or  a  mandamus  to 
oblige  the  Bishop  to  institute  proceedings,  the  issue 
would  have  been  impersonal,  and  would  have  involved 
the  construction  of  law  only. 

The  Bishop  of  Western  New  York  has  once,  almost 
carried  his  Constitutional  Commission.  A  change  of 
mind  in  two  Deputies  would  have  secured  it.  Some  are 
looking  for  him  to  come  to  the  front  again. 

2.  Another  consequence  is  manifest.  The  two  Hou- 
ses of  the  General  Convention  are  not  enough  in  accord. 


254  Appendix  II. 


Over  and  over  again,  measures  which  the  Bishops  have 
studied  most  thoroughly  and  pass  with  singular  unani- 
mity :  laws,  in  which  they  have  embodied  their  united 
experience  of  actual  needs,  come  to  nothing. 

The  complaint  is  not  that  the  House  of  Deputies 
non-concur,  but  that  they  do  not  consider.  An  un- 
favorable report  from  their  Committee  on  Canons,  a 
mere  recommehdation  to  dissent,  settles  grave  ques- 
tions, and  they  are  not  heard  upon  their  merits.  For 
instance,  when  the  Sewanee  propositions  were  under 
discussion,  how  many  of  the  Deputies  knew  anything 
about  the  regret,  I  may  almost  say  the  remorse  of  some 
Bishops,  in  the  recollection  of  the  German  petitioners 
who  asked  the  lowest  room  in  the  Church,  and  received 
friendly  words  only,  in  answer  to  their  prayer. 

The  Deputies  reply,  that  the  Bishops  should  deliber- 
ate in  public  and  allow  their  speeches  to  be  heard  and 
reported.  If  this  must  be,  it  will  be  a  mournful  neces- 
sity. Sitting  with  closed  doors,  whatever  measure  is  un- 
der discussion,  the  Bishops  are  free  to  illustrate  by  act- 
ual experiences.  It  is  an  invaluable  safeguard  against 
doctrinaire  legislation.  With  reporters  in  the  gallery, 
such  confidences  could  not  be  interchanged. 

But  better  to  make  this  concession,  if  there  be  no 
other  means  of  remedying  the  evil,  than  to  lack  the  in- 
telligent co-operation  of  the  Deputies,  and  to  be  ever 
lamenting  the  failure  of  propositions^  which  would  not 
have  failed,  had  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  them  been 
distinctly  understood. 


Appendix  II.  255 


When  admitted  to  the  Sessions  of  the  Upper  House 
of  the  Canadian  Synod,  I  noted  this  incident.  The 
Bishops  were  at  a  loss  as  to  the  intent  of  some  proposi- 
tions of  the  Lower  House.  They  sent  down  their  Sec- 
retary with  an  enquiry.  He  returned  with  three  mem- 
bers most  famihar  with  the  matter,  designated  by  the 
Prolocutor.  Question  and  answer  rapidly  followed, 
and  in  five  minutes  all  difficulties  were  relieved,  and  it 
appeared  that  the  two  Houses  desired  the  same  thing. 
If,  when  an  important  question  is  pending,  either  House 
of  the  General  Convention  were  at  liberty  to  ask  or  to 
offer  oral  explanations,  through  those  of  its  members 
best  able  to  make  explanation,  with  the  privilege  of 
courteous  catechism  (not  of  argumentation),  the  mu- 
tual understanding  and  confidence  of  the  Houses  would 
be  enhanced.  Committees  of  Conference  are  useful, 
but  not  adequate  for  putting  the  members  generally,  in 
full  possession  of  the  facts  and  reasonings. 

A  final  suggestion  is  ventured.  The  Bishops  and 
Deputies  now  sit  together  in  the  Board  of  Missions. 
There  is  no  reason  why,  when  measures  of  grave  im- 
portance are  pending,  they  should  not  sit  in  Joint  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole. 

Finally,  concerning  all  these  matters.  Church  Com- 
prehension, Codification  in  place  of  Digest,  Exact 
Discipline,  one  may  adopt  the  language  of  a  late  writ- 
er touching  the  problems  which  come  to  the  front,  in 
the  course  of  modern  philosophical  and  moral  specula- 
tions. 


256  Appendix  II. 


' '  We  want  a  large  body  of  clergy  capable  of  bring- 
ing out  of  their  treasures  things  new  and  old,  to  help  us 
here.  And  how  are  we  to  get  such  a  body  ?  /  do  not 
know.  I  only  know  that  one  way  not  to  get  them  is 
*  *  *  confine  the  epithet  hard-working  clergy,  to  that 
very  valuable  body  of  men  who  are  good  organizers, 
good  men  of  business,  good  popular  preachers,  good 
ecclesiastical  musicians,  good  and  industrious  Ritual- 
ists. All  these  are  very  valuable  adjuncts  and  helps  to  us. 
But  do  not  let  us  assume  that  no  clergy  who  cannot  be 
brought  into  this  latter  category  of  Church  workers, 
can  do  much  hard  work,  work  which  will  tdl  in  future 
generations  as  well  as  in  this,  for  the  Master  of  the  Vine- 
yard and  for  the  Church  and  Realm.''* 

*  Footman's  Reassuring  Hints,  Paper  II.  Sect.  iv. 


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